


Locked & Loaded, or The Prodigal Father

by Reed_Zone_Alert (Eliza_Reed)



Series: Ratchet & Clank Reborn [3]
Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, No longer on hiatus, Occasional Interludes, Reboot, Remix- I guess??, Science Fiction, Two Plots Are Better Than One!, Two Plots Turned into Three
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26284792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliza_Reed/pseuds/Reed_Zone_Alert
Summary: Plots:Ratchet & Clank:On their way back to Solana from a mission in the Bogon Galaxy, a mysterious shockwave causes the ship of the now-official Galactic Rangers Ratchet and Clank to crash on the planet Oozla. There, they learn of a strange conspiracy revolving around the monopoly giant Megacorp and a top secret project known as "The Experiment."Sachari & Scrap:Elaris sent Sachari, Em'al, and Scrap (also now Galactic Rangers) to investigate a series of anomalous shockwaves and other phenomena plaguing both the Polaris and the Bogon Galaxies. The same shockwave that Ratchet and Clank encountered also makes Sachari crash her ship on Planet Quantos. There is the start of their journey to find the truth- a journey that eventually makes Sachari wish she'd never gotten involved in the first place.Em'al (interlude plotline):Em'al meanwhile gets caught up in a quest of his own, one that at every turn seems to adds on more and more questions, and delivers few answers. It doesn't help that a rogue faction of space pirates are hot on his heels.~*~*~*~Sequel to:Shadow of the Robot
Relationships: Clank & Ratchet (Ratchet & Clank), Elaris/Ratchet (Ratchet & Clank), Sachari Cross & Alister Azimuth, Sachari Cross & Dr. Nefarious, Talwyn Apogee & Ratchet
Series: Ratchet & Clank Reborn [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1739431
Comments: 8
Kudos: 4





	1. I

_The Aureola Sector… in the Bogon Galaxy…_

If you had told Ratchet two years ago that he’d one day join a rag-tag team of heroes from completely different backgrounds and save the galaxy from an evil robotic mad scientist from a parallel universe, then he would have laughed and told you to your face that you were crazy. Fast-forward to a year from then, and what do you get? Ratchet joining a rag-tag team of heroes from different backgrounds and saving the galaxy from an evil robotic mad scientist from a parallel universe. And so now here he was, a year later, flying back to the New Ranger HQ (after the original HQ’s destruction from the Blarg attack on Kerwan, a new one was constructed in Silver City- the capital of Marcadia). In the space of that year, Ratchet had learned that the Lombaxes were originally from the planet Fastoon in the Polaris Galaxy- however, due to the amount of bloodshed the planet and its history were associated with, Angela made it perfectly clear that she and most of her tribe would prefer to stay on Grelbin. The Lombaxes who didn’t stay on Grelbin moved to various parts of the Solana Galaxy, though they too made it clear they no longer wished to be associated with the world of Fastoon.

Both Ratchet and Sachari as well as Clank and Em’al officially signed up to join the Galactic Ranger’s ranks in order to fill in the empty spots left behind by the still MIA Qwark, Cora Veralux, and Brax. All of the new recruits- minus Clank, of course- had to go through extensive physical and tactical training, which Elaris had to be in charge of since there was no one else. Ratchet realised very quickly that Elaris could be very brutal (albeit somewhat unintentionally) when it came to the physical training aspect. He would frequently return to his and Clank’s apartment drenched in sweat and too worn out for even basic conversation.

More often than not, Clank would return home from his and Elaris’ lab to find Ratchet curled up in a ball on the cold hardwood floor, passed out.

The holographic message he and Clank received when they first began their fight against Drek (which had turned into one against Nefarious after the scientist had turned on Drek and taken control of all Blarg operations, including that which involved the superweapon known as the Deplanetiser. Drek’s ultimate fate remains unknown, as his escape pod had been found by a Vullard scavenger vessel sometime after the Deplanetiser’s destruction, but the only thing inside was some shedded wool) could still not be decrypted- Clank had tried his best, as did Elaris and just about every technologically inclined mind out there, and they still couldn’t decrypt it. Eventually the problem was turned over to the Terachnoids, who instantly set upon the issue like a pack of starving Sand Sharks. The scientists determined that the message’s firewalls could not be broken through brute force- rather, they had to be studied in minute detail, to the smallest string of code. And then, and only then, would they find a way to tap into what lay within those walls. So the Terachnoids did just that. They began studying the program, experimenting with it, and learning how it behaved so they could find ways to better counter it.

Last Ratchet heard, the Terachnoids were very close to finishing a program that would be able to eliminate the firewalls and allow the message to be viewed. That was about a week ago. The Lombax hoped that by now, perhaps the Terachnoids were finished and this mystery could finally be solved.

As Ratchet piloted (he’d taken pilot training as well- both Clank and Elaris were very adamant about it) his ship- the one he’d first obtained on Veldin the year before, as he’d let Sachari have Aphelion- through the Aureola Sector, Clank was busy taking sensor readings regularly and reading his latest copy of the _Official Inter-Galactic Guidebook of Cool, Random Facts_ \- which was a huge mouthful of a title, in the feline’s personal opinion. The defect lowered his book and decided to check the sensors again.

“Ratchet!” Clank turned his head to look over at the feline in question. “Sensors are picking up an energy shockwave of unknown source heading directly towards our ship- I suggest we-!” The shockwave impacted the ship from behind, effectively crippling its systems.

“Drat,” Ratchet muttered to himself. “Okay, don’t panic… don’t panic! There’s a planet just dead ahead- I’ll try to make an emergency landing on the surface.” Through the cockpit window, the duo could see a particularly foreboding-looking planet in their path. “Hang on tight, it’s gonna be a rough ride!” The Lombax gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the steering as the ship hit the atmosphere of the planet. The surface below zoomed into view at incalculable speed, revealing the world’s darkened swampy terrain. Creatures of various different species could be seen walking and slithering along the muck, and others could be seen taking a dip in the ugly yellow-ish green waters. The ship impacted a small plateau, skidding across the ground violently and smashing into an old fence just at the edge of the plateau.

Clank, who wound up in his seat upside down- and tangled up in his seatbelt- sometime during their decent, shared a look with Ratchet. “Well,” the defect started. “At least this time the ship is not a smoldering wreck.”

“You think you’re so funny, don’t you?” Ratchet shot back. But the Lombax couldn’t keep the amused smile off his face for very long. He smacked a button on the console in front of him, opening up the cockpit. He then clambered out of the damaged vessel, and then helped Clank get free of the safety restraint. “C’mon- let’s get you outta there.” After getting the robot untangled, the duo decided to take a better look at their ship and its current situation. “Well, it’s not _unfixable_ ,” Ratchet finally said after a long moment of studying it. “But we’re gonna need to get some new parts first.”

“On our way down, I believe I spotted what may be a Megacorp Outlet store,” Clank told the feline.

Ratchet scoffed incredulously. “A store?! In the middle of a _swamp?!?_ Okay, did you hit your head or something when I wasn’t looking, cause-” While the Lombax went off on a rant about how stupid it would be to put a random store in the middle of a potentially dangerous swamp, Clank pulled him by the arm towards the fence their ship had crashed into. He pointed to a Megacorp Outlet store stationed a ways away- with nothing between them except for a wide expanse of swampy water. “Oh,” Ratchet said upon seeing the store. “I still think it’s a dumb place to put a store.”

Clank just shrugged. “Regardless, if they do have what we need to repair the ship, then it is a mistake on their part that has worked to our advantage.”

“You sure you want us to be supporting a massive galaxy-wide corporation that kills people as it sees fit, and hires those who tend _not_ to ask questions to do it for them?” Ratchet asked, remembering what Percival had told him when Clank pointed out that the Cragmite was a wanted criminal in both the Bogon and Polaris Galaxies.

“We could always steal the parts from them,” Clank offered half-jokingly. As much as he would love to stick it to Megacorp by swiping their stuff from them and not even pay for it, in all honesty the defect would rather he and Ratchet _not_ become wanted criminals here in the Bogon Galaxy.

Ratchet chuckled and shook his head. “Elaris would probably have our heads on pikes or something if we did that,” he said. “C’mon, let’s head over there and see what they’ve got. Hopefully their stuff isn’t gonna be too expensive…” Clank nodded in response and clambered up onto his friend’s back. Ratchet then took a step back from the crash site and looked around the plateau. There were two paths he could take- which one actually led to the store was a mystery to him. Both might even lead to it, for all he knew.

He shrugged and decided to head down the path on the left. As the feline jogged down the hillside, Twin-Ended Omni-Wrench in hand, he could see what looked like a group of giant snail-like creatures with pinchers. One of these creatures spotted him and let out a long, drawn-out whine- catching the attention of its companions. “Another day, another fight with wildlife,” he muttered. Ratchet swung his wrench forward, lobbing a ball of ice at the nearest one. The frozen water coated the monster from its eye-stalk to the bottom of its shell, instantly immobilising it. The Lombax then switched over to his Combuster and blasted the monster with it, effectively putting the lifeform in question out-of-commission for the time being. He dashed to the side quickly as another one of the creatures tried to snap him up with its pinchers.

“Intriguing,” Clank remarked as he caught sight of the strange alien. “This lifeform has a striking resemblance to the Oozla Swampbeast- however, these Swampbeasts appear to be mutated to some degree. I do not believe this is due to deliberate genetic manipulation… I am detecting a strange energy signature coming from the creatures- perhaps something here on the planet has caused this mutation to occur.”

While Clank spoke, Ratchet chose to deploy a Mr. Zurkon for the first time. “I shall let you live little alien… _psych!”_ Zurkon greeted the Swampbeasts gleefully as Ratchet deployed him. “Mr. Zurkon lives only to kill!”

“Oh boy,” Ratchet muttered to himself. Something told him that today was going to be a _long_ day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not a lot happens in this chapter... and also sorry it's pretty short. The next one will be longer, I swear!


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One part of this chapter is partially inspired by RevenantReaper337's fanfic "Whole Again", which you can (and should!) read on Fanfiction.Net. Also, I named one of the characters after one of wherearetherobot's OCs from her fanfic "Minerva: Wandering Mercenary" which is also on Fanfiction.Net and also definitely a must-read! 
> 
> Constructive criticism is always appreciated, and FLAMES obviously are NOT.

Ratchet had switched to his Devastator towards the end of the fight- only one Mutated Swampbeast was left and was easily taken out with a missile to the shell. Once the monster in question was finally out of the picture, the Lombax made his way down the trail and crossed a Raritanium alloy bridge which led to another, much smaller strip of land.

“Help! _Heeelllp!!”_ a voice called from a small cave off to the side. “Help me! _Please!!”_

“Hang on!” Ratchet called back, hurrying over as fast as he could. “We’re coming!” The feline leapt over the small log that was obstructing the cave’s opening and saw what appeared to be two Muckdwellers getting ready to pounce on a much smaller alien- apparently a Megacorp employee, if the uniform was anything to go by. Ratchet wasted no time and tele-equipped his Omni-Wrench. The Muckdwellers turned their attention away from their _very_ frightened prey and glared at the Lombax. “So, either of you wanna surrender before I beat the heck outta you?” Ratchet asked the Muckdwellers, the sarcasm practically dripping from his voice. Naturally, the only response he received from the two non-sentient aliens were threatening growls. “No? Okay- don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

Clank wondered if he should suggest to Elaris that she add “Arrogance Abstention” to her list of special training for Ratchet.

The aforementioned Lombax made the first move- opting to smack the nearest Muckdweller in its face with his wrench. Teeth as well as some droplets of green goo flew out of the creature’s mouth as the impact of metal against flesh sent it flying into the nearby rock wall. The Muckdweller who had been sitting there beside its currently incapacitated companion hissed at the feline and lunged at him. Ratchet swung his wrench and smacked the alien dead-centre in the face, sending it flying into a nearby boulder. The Lombax grabbed the Megacorp employee by his coat and dragged him out of there before the Muckdwellers could come back to their senses.

Ratchet released his grip on the employee once he thought they were both a safe distance away from the carnivorous lifeforms. He took this moment to take a better look at the employee who he just rescued from certain death. The alien was small in stature- even smaller than Ratchet himself. Which was a bit surprising and off-putting for sure, but the feline decided not to think about it too much. The employee, in addition to his standard-issue Megacorp salesperson uniform and glasses that were a little big for his face, also wore what appeared to be a first aid kit around his right shoulder and another bag- presumably one with supplies in it- around his left shoulder.

“What’re you doing out here, uhh-” Ratchet glanced at the small nametag pinned to the side of his uniform. “- Fred?”

“I was gonna ask you the same thing,” “Fred” replied, finally relaxing a little. “The manager sent me out to go check on Roger- he’s a scientist who lives up in the lab stationed on the other side of this swamp. But then… the wildlife… the wildlife… I don’t know what happened! They just started… well, _changing!_ Normally the Muckdwellers are pretty passive creatures- if you ignore them, they’ll ignore you. But today, all the wildlife seem to have become really aggressive- even the Swampflies! And those little guys are supposed to be _friendly!”_ Fred paused his rambling for the moment, taking a moment to breathe before continuing, “And it’s not just their behaviour that’s changed! They _look_ different too! I- I don’t know what’s going on-”

“Sir,” Clank spoke up, “please, calm down- you are safe now.”

Fred yelped at the sound of the defect’s voice. “Wha- what was that?!”

“That’s just my pal Clank over here.” Ratchet turned to the side a bit so Fred could see the robot in question.

Clank turned his head and gave the short alien a wave. “Hello, sir- it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Oh- uh, h-hi!” Fred calmed down a little after that, and returned the wave half-heartedly. “Look, I know it’s a lot to ask given you’ve just saved my life and I haven’t even repaid you yet, but do you think you can escort me back to the store? I wanna make sure my manager’s okay…”

“We were headed in that direction anyway,” Ratchet told him. “Just stay close, and do what I tell you to, okay? Pretty sure there’s a lot more lurking around in this swamp than just some Muckdwellers and over-sized snails with pincers.”

* * *

_Meanwhile… in the Zolar Sector of the Polaris Galaxy…_

Sachari, Em’al, and Scrap were heading through the Zolar Sector, having been sent by Elaris- with written permission from the President of the Polaris Galaxy as well as the Polaris Defense Force- to investigate a series of strange anomalous shockwaves and temporal abnormalities plaguing both this particular galaxy and its neighbor, the Bogon. Elaris had determined from the available data that was provided to her that the source of these anomalies was somewhere in the Forbidden Expanse- which encompassed the centre of the universe, and then some.

The Forbidden Expanse wasn’t necessarily forbidden per say- anyone could enter the region if they wished, but to do so was considered to be extremely suicidal. The Expanse, in short, had a reputation of a dramatised Bermuda Triangle in space. Any ships that went in never came back out. What the Expanse actually was, no one knew. It resembled a nebula in terms of physical appearance, but its chemical composition was something else entirely- some of the elements recovered by research vessels that sent collection probes along the massive cloud’s edges appeared to be Raritanium, Phylarium, and Kreelium. But the other materials collected were virtually unidentifiable- no doubt they were elements never seen before in any other part of known space. Even the Terachnoids themselves were mind-boggled by the existence of the Forbidden Expanse.

So what was the mission Sachari and Em’al were sent on? To go to the outer reaches of the Expanse and learn whatever they could from scans. Sachari figured she could pass the time drawing something on her personal data pad, maybe talk to Em’al and Aphelion for a bit, give Scrap some scratches. Something to stave off the boredom for a little while.

Except it was going to be a while longer before they ever reached the Forbidden Expanse. “Warning! I’m detecting an anomalous shockwave approaching us from five o’clock,” Aphelion explained. “I recommend initiating-” The shockwave hit the vessel while she was still in mid-sentence. “Sy _-sys_ te- _systems_ failing…”

“Aphelion!” Sachari gently smacked the side of the dashboard, hoping the ship in question would snap out of it. “No no no…”

“I see a planet over that way,” Em’al told her, pointing to an ocean blue planet with green splotches on it that was slightly to their right. “I think we might be able to make it!” Sachari only nodded in response, steering Aphelion in that direction. The ship sped closer and closer to the planet, hitting its atmosphere. Several seconds later, they hit the ground, smashing into trees as the vessel skidded through the dirt- leaving downed trees, pieces of ship, and a long trench in her wake. Aphelion flew off a cliff- which had been lying on the other side of the now-destroyed forest, in wait- and started plummeting towards the ground.

Meanwhile her occupants were screaming their heads off the whole time.

Aphelion finally landed in a heap on a plateau below, the poor ship looking very much worse for the wear. At least they weren’t falling anymore. Sachari pushed open the cockpit window, coughing from all the dirt and dust that had gotten into the ship when they crashed. Em’al stumbled out, Scrap in his arms, both of them gasping and wheezing. Scrap sneezed painfully, trying to get the dirt out of her central wiring harness.

Sachari clambered out of Aphelion, still coughing a bit. Once her lungs seemed to have calmed down a bit, she turned her attention back to the downed vessel. “Aphelion?” A cold feeling rushed across her skin when she received no response. The Lombax gave Aphelion a little nudge with her hand. “Aphelion… please say something…”

Nothing.

Sachari sighed quietly. “Don’t worry, girl- we’ll fix you. I don’t know how, but we’ll find a way to fix you. I promise.” She then turned to face Em’al, who was watching her with a saddened expression. While he may not have spent nearly as much time with Aphelion as Sachari had, he could understand her loss to some degree, and hoped they could find a way to fix the ship.

“I guess we better get going?” Em’al asked, Scrap settling into her usual place on his left shoulder. “We might be able to find somebody who could help us fix her. I hope, anyway…”

Sachari nodded in agreement. “Yeah, no sense in just standing here.” She took one more look at Aphelion and said, “We’ll be back soon, okay?” And with that, the trio started heading down the trail that lay before them. She couldn’t help but wonder what structure once stood here as she and Em’al treaded down the path to a small stone bridge engraved with what appeared to be ancient Fongoid runes.

Interesting.

As they continued their trek- so far, they had not encountered anything hostile yet- her thoughts turned to her sister, and in turn Ratchet and Clank. After the Deplanetiser was destroyed, and the galaxy saved, Ratchet had tried to learn not only more about his people, but also how he and Clank were connected to the Zoni. He wasn’t too pleased, however, when Angela avoided his questioning at every turn. It was only when Angela explained that the last time a Text Keeper- leading the Lombax tribe wasn’t her only job- had divulged to the previous “Saviours” of their destiny, it ended in a catastrophe of universal scale. While he was displeased with this explanation, Ratchet finally let the matter rest.

But it had strained his friendship with Angela, and that bothered Sachari. She tried not to think about it too much, but her brain often liked to poke at her with it now and then. At least Ratchet didn’t seem to let it affect his friendship with her. Or if it did, he didn’t let on.

A rifle discharge broke Sachari’s train of thought for a moment. She saw Em’al standing beside her, his rifle pointed at several small mushroom-like aliens a ways away. And they didn’t look too friendly. The Lombax tele-equipped her Versa-Mallet and leapt forward, bringing the weapon down to the earth hard. An electrical shockwave burst forth, shocking the aliens in question and incapacitating them.

Another swarm of the aliens flooded out into the open from the bushes, snarling and racing towards the two felines. Sachari swung her mallet and struck several of them at once, sending them flying through the air and over the nearby cliffside. Em’al blew away each of the critters away with his rifle, while Scrap- who had a small laser-like device attached to the thin antenna on her head- also zapped several of the aliens, the discharge practically frying them.

Within moments, the area was clear of enemies- save for what little remained of the aliens they had just dealt with. Sachari gave Em’al and Scrap a smile and a thumbs up. “Nice shooting, guys!”

Em’al smiled back at her in response, while Scrap let out a pleased chirp. The three of them leapt across the small plateau-like formations sticking out of the body of water ahead, and made it to the other side without too much trouble. An obstacle lay directly in their way, however- the trail ahead had apparently been sealed off with a stone wall a very long time ago. For what reason, Sachari had no idea. Thankfully, she had her armour’s boot thrusters, and Em’al had his jetpack- so all they had to do was boost over the structure to the other side. Neither of them particularly liked the idea of busting anything ancient, and wanted to avoid doing so if they could.

On the other side, Sachari and Em’al came face-to-face with another one of those aliens- only this one appeared to be much larger, and a heck of a lot more angry.

Sachari gave the annoyed alien a little wave and asked in a nervous voice, “Ahh, so- see any good holo-films lately, ahh- heh heh…?…”

* * *

_Back on Oozla…_

Ratchet back-flipped and threw his Omni-Wrench at the Muckdweller, the weapon striking the creature right in one of its eyes. The critter wailed in pain, and the wrench sailed back into the Lombax’s hand. He lunged forward and whacked the Muckdweller, sending it flying through the air. It fell into the swampy waters a few feet away and sank beneath to its doom. With the last of the toxic-gas spewing nusiances out of the way, Ratchet turned around to face Fred, who was still hiding behind the rock that the feline ordered him to, well- hide behind.

“It’s all clear,” Ratchet told him.

Fred nodded in reply, quietly stepping out from cover. “So who are you guys, anyway?” he asked as the three of them made their way down the trail that lead up to the Outlet store entrance. “I know you told me your names, but what do you _do_ , exactly?”

“We are members of the Galactic Rangers,” Clank answered.

“Wow, you guys are a _long_ way from home, then,” Fred remarked, obviously surprised. “Wait a second- I thought you looked familiar! You’re the ones who destroyed the Deplanetiser and killed Dr. Nefarious, aren’t you?”

“Destroyed the Deplanetiser, yes,” Ratchet replied. “Killed Nefarious? No- the Deplanetiser kinda did that for us, supposedly. His body was never found in the wreckage.”

Fred was now visibly concerned- not so much about the bit involving Nefarious, but about the fact that his saviours were Galactic Rangers. “Oh man… maybe this was a bad idea… who am I kidding, this _is_ a bad idea!”

“What’re you talking about? _What’s_ a bad idea?” As the Lombax finished speaking, they entered the store itself. Scorch marks were all over the walls, and three dead Swampbeast corpses lay on the floor.

From behind an overturned desk across the main lobby, a Blarg dressed in a Megacorp uniform very similar to Fred’s peered over the side, a Spitting Hydra in his hands. “Don’t you move! I’ll shoot!”

“Jerry!” Fred called back to the Blarg- whose name was evidently “Jerry”- while waving to get his attention. “They’re friendlies! Please don’t kill them- they saved my life!”

After a moment of hesitation, Jerry grunted in annoyance and lowered his weapon. “Fine, fine. Whatever. Come in, I guess…” As they approached the Blarg’s desk, Jerry groaned in frustration as he picked up from the floor pieces of a broken CD disk. “Lousy Swampbeasts- this was my favourite Courtney Gears CD! And it was _first edition_ too!”

“What are the Blarg doing in the Bogon Galaxy?” Clank asked as he hopped off of Ratchet’s back, in desperate need of a stretch.

Jerry looked down at him, startled. Once overcoming his astonishment over Clank’s appearance, the Blarg scowled and retorted, “News flash! In case you haven’t been paying attention, _talking lunchbox_ , most of us Blarg worked for Chairman Drek in one way or another- whether it was as soldiers, scientists, or even just accounting! And because of our association with him and Dr. Nefarious, we were all pretty much wanted criminals! Most of us wound up in _jail!_ I don’t know what happened to everyone else- but Roger and I came to the Bogon Galaxy for a clean-ish slate. We got jobs at Megacorp, and now look at us. Stuck on some backwater planet, _losing_ more bolts than we make cause our only customers just buy cheap _gardening tools_ and cloth for _sewing!_ Fongoids… there’s no business in stupid _rakes.”_

“Right… um, anyway,” Ratchet finally said after a short pause, “we’re kinda stranded here- our ship crashed, and we need some parts to repair it.”

“Yeah, yeah, take whatever you want and just go,” Jerry told them coldly. Clank sensed there was something almost personal in his behaviour towards them- as if he held a grudge against them. Which was unsurprising, he supposed, seeing as their victory against Nefarious led to almost the entire Blarg race being declared criminals. But he had the distinct feeling it was deeper than that, somehow.

Ratchet and Clank collected the parts they felt they’d need to fix their ship and prepared to leave the store when Fred approached them with a small, strange-looking gadget in his hands. “I don’t have very many bolts, but here- take this! It’s a Megacorp Dynamo. You can use it to activate any Dynamo Holo-Pads you might encounter.”

“Thanks!” Ratchet said, smiling as he slid the device in question onto his arm.

“Thank _you_ , for saving my life!” Fred replied. “And uhh, if you have time, could you maybe check on Roger for us? With the wildlife going crazy and all… anyway- I have his lab’s coordinates and a map of the area, so I can upload them to your nav unit. If you do this, that is.”

“Well…” Ratchet turned to look at Clank.

“I do not see why we cannot help out,” the aforementioned defect said. “Please do upload the coordinates and the map. We will check on your friend for you.”

“Thanks a bunch!” Fred pulled a small data pad out of his pocket. He tapped a few icons on the screen and said, “Okay, they’re uploaded. Good luck out there, you two. And be careful.”

And with that, the duo parted ways with the Megacorp employee. As Clank clambered back up onto Ratchet’s back, the Lombax pressed a button on his glove and took a peek at his Holo-Map. The map was extremely detailed, clearly distinguishing the strips of land from the swamp water, and displaying what appeared to be buildings scattered all around the area- these were labelled simply as ruins. Ratchet instantly started down the trail ahead, his Enforcer now equipped and at the ready.

As his eyes locked onto a Mutant Swampfly hovering a few metres ahead, the Lombax took aim at it and fired.

* * *

_Meanwhile… back in the Zolar Sector…_

Em’al blew up the last of the mushroom-like creatures- apparently, if shot, the bigger ones would split into a swarm of smaller ones. And so the three Rangers had been occupied with wiping out the critters- Sachari smashing them with her mallet, Em’al blasting them with his rifle, and Scrap putting on a deadly light show with her lasers.

Once the area was clear of still-breathing enemies, Sachari and Em’al shared a look. “That’s definitely not something you see every day,” Sachari remarked. Em’al laughed in amusement and just shook his head. They then resumed their trek through the jungle, marveling the many ancient ruins they encountered along the way.

Em’al walked up to an old stone spire that sat in the middle of what was probably at one time a courtyard. Carved on each side of the spire was an image of three Zoni, and below it, what looked like a… wrench? Or was it an axe? It was difficult to tell, given the amount of erosion the spire’s experienced over the centuries. “Sooo… why did the Lombaxes and the Zoni disappear, exactly?”

“Em’al, we’ve been over this,” Sachari told him, studying a Fongoid statue that was propped up against a cliff several feet away. “I don’t know. It’s been almost two thousand years- whatever the reason was, it probably doesn’t matter anymore.” Her ear twitched as an almost inaudible shouting reached it. “Hey- do you hear that?”

Em’al perked up, listening quietly for a moment. “Yeah, I think so- it sounds like someone calling for help.”

“Let’s go check it out.”

Sachari and Em’al hurried down the trail as fast as they could, the shouting becoming more and more audible as they got closer to its source. They rounded the corner to see a swarm of those mushroom creatures closing in on a Fongoid native, who had a long wide staff in her hands with which she was trying to hold the monsters off, and huddled behind her for protection were three children, who were sobbing quietly in fear. “Stay back, I’m warning you!” the native hissed at the predators. “Help! Someone! Please- help us!”

Sachari charged towards the enemy aliens and smacked several of them at once with her mallet, electrocuting them on impact. Em’al followed after her, whipping his rifle this way and that as he shot mushroom menace after mushroom menace. Scrap chirped happily as she joined in on the chaos, excitedly zapping every one of the aliens she could. Sachari smashed several more of the critters in one blow, and then spun with her mallet in a circle- launching a ball of crackling electricity which fried a whole bunch of them upon impact. Within a minute, all the mushroomy predators were dead, and the Fongoid natives were safe.

“You alright there?” Sachari asked, turning towards the adult Fongoid. “Do any of you need Nanotech?”

“We’re fine, but thank you,” the Fongoid replied, visibly relieved. “Another minute and we might have been killed…” She kept a protective arm around the three children, who now were standing beside her but still huddled close. They peered above her arm, watching Sachari, Em’al, and Scrap with very wide eyes. “My name is Enessa,” the Fongoid adult told the Lombax and Aez’ear. “Who are you? And what are you doing here on Quantos?”

“I’m Sachari and this is my friend Em’al,” Sachari answered. “And the little bot on his shoulder is Scrap. Our ship crashed a ways away and we were hoping we could get some help to repair her.”

“Oh dear… the- _neh_ \- ahem, the sixth one this week,” Enessa murmured to herself.

“Wait, five other ships have crashed here in the same _week?”_ Em’al asked, astonished- the only reasonable conclusion he could come to was that those ships also encountered anomalies on their way through the system and crashed.

Enessa nodded. “I’ll explain more when we’re safe in the village. More Zyphoids might come if we linger here too long.” She led the three Rangers down the trail, her arm still wrapped around her children.

“Ma, I’m hungry,” one of the children whined.

“We’ll get some food once we’re safe,” Enessa reassured the child, not even stopping walking for a moment lest the Zyphoids show up again. Within a few minutes, they reached what appeared to be an old, rusty gate. “Alpheus!” Enessa called. “Open the gate!”

A creaking noise could be heard mere seconds later and the gate rose, revealing another Fongoid standing on the other side. They wore more ornate garb than Enessa and their staff was decorated with several brightly coloured feathers. “Enessa! Are you alright?- _neh!-_ You were supposed to be back fifteen minutes ago!”

“I know that, Alpheus,” Enessa told Alpheus. “But we had some trouble with the Zyphoids on our way back from the river. These three saved us from them.” She gestured to Sachari, Em’al, and Scrap. Scrap chirped a greeting to Alpheus, who just stared at her in utter bewilderment.

Alpheus cleared their throat after a moment and said, “Well? What’re you waiting for, an invitation? Come in so I can close the gate!”


	3. III

_Oozla…_

When Ratchet was about to round the corner which led up to a very swampy expanse between himself and the next section of trail, a temporal rift dead centre above the water was _not_ what he expected to find. From the anomaly itself- which resembled a portal- several aqua blue tendrils sprouted from it, some stretching out into the sky while others coiled about the area. Some of the latter seemed to have caught several Mutant Swampflies in the process, as the aforementioned critters appeared to be trapped inside the tendrils. “Whoa… Clank, there’s something seriously wrong with this planet.”

Clank clambered off of the Lombax’s back for a moment to observe. “Hmm, curious. This anomaly bears a striking resemblance to the one you and I encountered in the Zoni temple on Grelbin.”

“Of course,” Ratchet muttered, crossing his arms and glaring at the temporal anomaly in annoyance. “Stalkers.”

“Ratchet!”

Ratchet just seemed to ignore his friend’s reprimand, and went on, “C’mon, let’s go. We still need to check on that Roger guy and I wanna get off this dumb planet before anything else weird happens.”

“I wonder…” Clank climbed back into his usual place on the feline’s back as he spoke. “It may be possible that this temporal anomaly- perhaps even others, if there are any- may be causing the wildlife here to mutate…”

Ratchet ignored this remark entirely as he walked over to a small boat tied to a metal post drilled into the edge of the “dock” (which was little more than a partially crumbling concrete platform). He clambered in and untied the rope that held the boat to its post, then picked up a paddle and started to row. Within moments, they were safely on the other side, and Ratchet tied the boat up to another post- they’d need it if they were to get back across. The Lombax then made his way up the final stretch of trail, which led up to small hut-like building constructed from Raritanium. He knocked on the door, only for said door to drift open slightly when he did. Ratchet pushed the door open with his hand and stepped inside.

Roger, who was hunched over a worktable, glared up at them. There was a look in the Blarg’s eyes that told Ratchet that the guy had clearly lost some bolts- and not the physical kind. The “lab” itself was a mess- random machinery parts, bits of circuit boards, and even tools (both intact and broken) were strewn about the floor, along with food and used napkins. The feline could also see a couple of crushed soda cans mixed in there. At the other end of the room, despite the fact that Roger wasn’t even watching the TV, it was playing nonetheless. Clank separated from Ratchet for the moment to take a look around the room, while the Lombax himself walked up to the Blarg to speak to him.

“Uhh, hi,” Ratchet greeted awkwardly with a little wave, keeping some distance between himself and Roger. There was no telling what the reptile might do should he feel threatened. Or even annoyed, for that matter. “How’re you holding up there, Roger?”

Roger seemed to perk up a little at the feline’s attempt to interact. The reptile stood up and moved over to the cloth covered wall behind him. He then dramatically yanked the aforementioned cloth off- revealing the messy array of newspaper clippings, blueprints, and crude drawings underneath. “I-I am th-this close,” Roger stuttered, gesturing to the mess of papers, “to disc-c-discovering the truth behind the Experiment! Soon, I’ll kn-know what about it Megacorp is try-y-trying to hide! Just as soon as she can br-bring it to me!”

“Just as soon as who can bring what to you?” Ratchet asked. Clank returned to the Lombax’s side at this point, now wishing he _hadn’t_ chosen to walk into the bathroom.

“Apogee!” Roger snapped, now seeming annoyed with his guests’ confusion on the matter. “She’s su-supposed to br-br-bring me the Experiment! S- so I can examine it!” Just as the Blarg spoke, the lab door swung open and in stepped a Markazian. She was tall, around Elaris’ height, and had shoulder-length auburn hair. She wore a dark red hood with crimson lining on the edges and a dark green battle suit with Raritanium plating sewn on.

She pushed her hood off her head and glared at Ratchet and Clank, who had both turned around to face her. “Who are you, and just _what_ do you think you’re doing here?”

“I am Clank, and this is my friend Ratchet,” Clank answered. “Fred from the Megacorp Outlet store sent us to check on Roger for him.”

“Oh.” The Markazian seemed to relax (a little) upon receiving this information. She was quiet for a moment and then told them, “I’m Talwyn. Nice to meet you… I guess?”

“It is a pleasure to meet you as well,” Clank replied.

“Ha-have you got i-i-it?” Roger asked quickly, his body trembling with excitement. “You do have it, do-do-d-don’t you? The Experiment?”

“No, I don’t,” Talwyn said, sighing tiredly as she sat down on what was the only clean chair in the room. “It was a trap- the Thugs-4-Less were waiting for me.”

“The ‘Thugs-4-Less?’” Ratchet repeated. “Wait, you went up against one of the Bogon’s _biggest_ crime syndicates?? And survived!?”

“Keep it up, Lombax,” Talwyn growled at him as she tele-equipped a Shock Ravager, “and _this_ is gonna have _your_ name on it.”

Ratchet raised his hands defensively. “Sheesh, cranky,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry, what was that?!” Talwyn’s eyes narrowed as she glared daggers at the feline.

“I said ‘thankee!’ Thankee very much for the, uhh, warning…” Ratchet smiled at her sheepishly. The Markazian didn't seem to buy it one bit, but at least she wasn’t attacking him or anything. _Yet._ “What’s all this about an ‘Experiment’, anyway?”

“‘What’s all this about,’ you ask?” Talwyn retorted. “None of your busin-”

Her words were cut short as a rusty old warbot stepped into the hut. His metal frame was splattered with nasty green goo- no doubt he had a not-so-pretty encounter with some of the swamp wildlife. “I thought the Muckdwellers were bad just a couple’a minutes ago… I was sorely mistaken.”

Talwyn whipped about, concern washing over her face. “Cronk! What happened?”

Ratchet and Clank shared a look. “Cronk??” Em’al had told the two of them about Cronk- who, along with Zephyr, raised him after the other Aez’ears exiled him. Zephyr didn’t seem to like talking about Cronk much nowadays. Most likely because the warbot left for the Bogon Galaxy not long before Ratchet and his friends came to Sargasso.

And he never came back.

“I was just mindin’ my own business, tryin’ to fix the engine again when a whole pack of ‘em came chargin’ outta the bushes, snarlin’ and spitting gas everywhere!” Cronk gestured animatedly as he spoke, his movements very similar to Zephyr’s. “You can probably guess the rest… uhh, if Roger doesn’t mind, I think I’ll go clean myself up.”

“I would not recommend going into the bathroom,” Clank told him. “I do not think it has been cleaned at all in the past year…”

“I know,” Cronk replied, his voice sounding tired. “I’ve seen the state it’s in.” He paused for a long moment, looking at Clank, then Ratchet, then at Clank again. “You two rooks are the ones who stopped Nefarious, aren’t you? I recognise you from the news!”

“Then I’m guessing you know Em’al’s joined the Galactic Rangers,” Ratchet retorted, crossing his arms and glaring at the warbot accusingly. “Where’ve you been all this time??”

“It’s a long story,” Cronk said.

“Well we’ve got plenty of time,” Ratchet shot back.

“Actually, no we don’t,” Talwyn cut in. “We need to leave for Maktar Nation Resort soon-”

“The what now?” Ratchet asked, visibly confused.

“It’s a space station that was constructed by and is currently owned by both the Maktar Corporation and Annihilation Nation,” Cronk explained. “They’re holdin’ an arena competition in which they’re givin’ the winner a-”

“Cronk!” Talwyn frantically made a “stop it” motion with her hands as she told him, “Ix-nay! Ix-nay!”

“What? These two defeated Dr. Nefarious and destroyed the Deplanetiser!” Cronk pointed at Ratchet and Clank and went on, “Maybe they could help us!” He turned to the two Rangers in question and asked, “What’ya say, li’l whippersnappers? Will ya help the three of us fight for a good cause?”

“But we do not even know what any of this is about,” Clank replied. “Perhaps if you explained the situation to us in full, then we could come to a decision on the matter.”

“Fine, fine! You _win!”_ Talwyn threw her arms up in the air in defeat. “It all started about a year ago…”

* * *

_Meanwhile… on planet Quantos…_

Once they were all safely in the Fongoid Village, Alpheus turned to face the newcomers, frowning. “Alright,- _neh!_ \- let me guess… your ship crashed, didn’t it?”

“She,” Sachari corrected without hesitation. “And yes, she did. We were hoping we could find someone who could help us fix her- she’s taken a really bad beating.”

“Thank you,” Alpheus said in response to her correction. “And I do believe we can help you… well, more along the lines of- _neh!_ \- help you to enlist someone else’s help in order to fix her.” They turned to face Enessa and told her, “You should go home in the meantime. Your lifemate is probably worried sick about you!”

Enessa nodded and looked towards Sachari and Em’al. “I can never thank you enough for saving us.” She then reached forward and scratched Scrap on the head. The little robot purred and leaned into her touch, almost falling off of Em’al’s shoulder in the process. After prompting her children to say goodbye to them, Enessa lead her kids away- no doubt headed directly home to see her lifemate.

“So you said you know someone who might be able to help us?” Em’al asked.

“Ah, yes- follow me!” Alpheus didn’t wait for a response and started heading through the village square. Sachari and Em’al shared a look before following after them. As they walked through the square, Sachari couldn’t help but marvel at the sights, sounds, and smells of the place. It nearly overloaded her senses, what with all the colourful banners and feather decorations, the smells of all different kinds of food, and the sounds of the Fongoid merchants in their market stands calling out to people in an attempt to draw customers.

“This place is beautiful,” Sachari murmured, looking around in awe. Em’al offered no comment, and didn’t even appear to acknowledge what she said. Within ten minutes or so, the four of them came to what appeared to be a Fongoid temple. Unlike the marketplace, the outside of the temple was completely deserted.

Alpheus stopped in front of the temple’s closed stone door and turned towards the three Rangers. “What you seek is inside the temple- but I must – _neh!_ \- warn you, the Zoni will only help you if Orvus deems you worthy. If you aren’t worthy, then- well… the temple will kill you.”

“Of course, a killer temple- why not?” Sachari muttered to herself, shaking her head. “I take it there's no other way?”

“None that I'm- _neh!-_ aware of,” Alpheus replied. “I doubt you could scavenge anything from the other downed vessels- most of them wound up in the ocean and the others would take several days to get to on foot.”

“Guess I'll just have to take my chances, then,” Sachari said.

“I'm going in with you-” Em’al started. 

Sachari shook her head again, interrupting. “Nuh uh! Nope. No, you're not. No. You need to stay out here where it’s safe, in case this _doesn’t_ work.” She turned her head to look back at Alpheus, who had opened the door while they were talking. “Make sure this one-” she tilted her head towards Em’al as she spoke- “doesn’t follow me inside- he’s got a knack for not listening to directions.”

“Hey! That’s so not true-”

Sachari cleared her throat, interrupting Em’al. “Ahem- I have three words for you. Rilgar. Amoeboid. Sewers.”

Em’al facepalmed- he couldn’t believe his ears. “That was _one_ time! _One!”_

Sachari laughed and patted the Aez’ear’s shoulder in amusement. “I’ll see you in a bit, Em’al. Stay outta trouble.” With that, the Lombax’s expression settled into one of determination as she turned towards the Fongoid temple. “Here goes nothing,” she murmured to herself, walking inside. The door shut behind her with a loud _clank_ , briefly trapping her in an ominous darkness.

Ancient lights lining the hallway walls hummed to life, illuminating the path before her.

“Alright, Orvus.” Sachari started walking deeper into the temple, Versa-Mallet in hand. “Show me what you’ve got.”

* * *

_Oozla… again…_

“It all started about a year ago,” Talwyn started, her annoyed expression morphing into one of sadness. “An old friend of mine from high school had contacted me in the middle of the night- she explained to me she’d become a geneticist for Megacorp and that she had gotten knee deep into something bad. Really bad. It was supposed to be her greatest creation, but Fizzwidget- the Megacorp CEO- was pushing her to start the next procedure early, to the point of basically threatening her life if she didn’t do it. She was going to tell me more and tried to send me the project’s files, but… in the middle of her call, the Thugs-4-Less broke into her lab- where she was calling me from. They… well. They killed her. Right in front of me, so to speak.” Her face hardened again, and she went on, “That’s why we _have_ to stop Megacorp. If they had to _kill_ one of their own scientists just to cover up whatever’s wrong with the Experiment, then… I have to stop it. No matter what.”

Both Ratchet and Clank were quiet for a moment as they considered what to say next. “The Rangers do have some degree of jurisdiction in the Bogon Galaxy,” Clank finally said. “As long as we are not breaking and entering into high-security facilities and turn over any criminals we capture to the Bogon authorities, we will be able to lend some assistance.”

Talwyn let out a low whistle as she gave them a look. “I guess that means you probably won’t be able to help once we reach Todano…”

“Let me guess- there’s a high-security facility on Todano you need to break into?” Ratchet asked.

“Yeah, but I’m getting to that,” Talwyn told them. “Cronk and I can handle that. But what we do need help with is getting our hands on the very device we need to get inside Megacorp’s Todano Testing Facility. That’s why we need to go to Maktar Nation Resort first- they’re holding an arena challenge tomorrow in which they’ll be giving the winner a special- and by that I mean very illegal- prize. It’s a device called ‘The Infiltrator,’ and it has the ability to hack into virtually every security system in the galaxy. If I can get that Infiltrator, then Cronk and I can break into the Todano Testing Facility and steal whatever files they have on the Experiment.” She paused for a moment, and then continued, “So here’s my proposal. On our way to the Maktar Nation Resort, you contact whoever you need to get full jurisdiction here. If you do manage to get full jurisdiction, great- then you can help us break into the facility, if you want. If you can’t get full jurisdiction, you can just help us with this one mission, and then once we have the Infiltrator, we’ll part ways. Do we have a deal?”

Ratchet and Clank looked at each other, and then at Talwyn. “I do believe it is a deal,” Clank answered. “But I do have one question- it appears there is a temporal anomaly on this planet that is causing the wildlife to mutate. Soon it may mutate them to the point where the Fongoids and Megacorp employees operating here will have to evacuate. Is there anything we can do to remove the anomaly?”

“We’ve known about the anomalies for a little while now,” Talwyn explained. “It’s been happening all over the Bogon, and I heard that Polaris is being affected too. Roger’s been working to try and find a way to remove the rifts and repair some, if not all, of the damage.” She looked over at Roger, who was ignoring them and fiddling with a pencil on his worktable. “Roger? You wanna tell them what you’ve been doing?”

“Hmm?” Roger looked up at her, blinking. “Oh- yes! Yes! One of my gr-great-greatest endeavours yet! Gimme a second…” He bent down behind the table and started rummaging through the boxes underneath. After a moment, he triumphantly pulled out a strange-looking object. It appeared to be a holo-projector with what looked like a silver-coloured half-sphere attached to it. The half sphere had a gap on the very top that looked big enough for one end of Ratchet’s Omni-Wrench to rest in. “Distinguished guests!” Roger called out dramatically. “I pre-pr-present to you my- patent pending- Portable Time Fixer! Just stick it in the ground of a pl-plan-planet that’s got anomalies all over it, put in anything here-” He pointed to the gap inside the half-circle. “- that can fit and is powered by one of my- also patent pending- power cores, and prest-pres-presto! Planet saved!”

“It looks like I could fit my wrench in there,” Ratchet observed, tele-equipping the aforementioned weapon.

“I’ll t-ta-take that!” Roger snagged the Lombax’s wrench, ignoring the feline’s angry “Hey!”, and getting to work on installing a power core.

The Lombax huffed and shook his head. He looked over at Clank and said, “C’mon, Clank- let’s go. Might as well fix up our ship while he dismantles my wrench… you better not destroy it!” Ratchet gave Roger a glare, not that it mattered. The Blarg was hunched over the weapon in question, too busy examining it and muttering to himself to pay the feline any mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **~Voice Claims!~**  
>  Sachari \- A.J. Michalka  
> Em'al \- Lin-Manuel Miranda  
> Roger \- Jimmy Hibbert


	4. IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I rearranged some things... constructive criticism is always appreciated- FLAMES are NOT.

_Quantos…_

Sachari smashed her mallet into the temple’s last defense module, shutting off the fiery beams that had burst forth from statue Orvus’ eyes- and thereby, opening the door to the temple’s central chamber. The Lombax hurried inside, and then stopped as she took in the sight that greeted her. Ancient runes and symbols were strewn all across the walls, ceiling, and even the floor. The gold trim lining the walls and floor also had runes carved into it along with strange, aqua blue lines running through the centre of said trim. At the other end of the room, across from Sachari, was another statue of Orvus. However, this one appeared to be normal- unlike its previous counterparts earlier in the temple.

On the steps in front of the statue rested two items- a small, faintly glowing capsule, and an ancient gold-coloured sceptre. She walked up to the items and, after a moment, chose to examine the capsule first. The feline picked it up cautiously and-after some hesitation- undid the clasps on it to open it.

And as the lid swung open, everything went black.

_The Dreamscape…_

_“Nggh…” Sachari put a hand to her head as she sat up slowly, groaning from the intense pain pounding in her skull. She opened her eyes and blinked quickly, her vision blurry. It cleared up after several seconds. As she lifted her head to look around, her eyes took in the endless white expanse stretching out all around her. “Where… am I??”_

_“Oh- why, hello!” Sachari scrambled to her feet and whipped about 180 degrees. Behind her floated what appeared to be Orvus himself, who was looking a little worse for the wear- what with bags under his dimmed eyes and his armour plating being riddled with cracks. “I apologise for the intrusion, but my exo-suit was… well, damaged. The capsule you released me from kept me alive while I was trapped inside, but when you opened it, I was forced to enter your body for protection.”_

“What?!? _You did_ what _now?!”_

_An ominous rumbling echoed through the Dreamscape, and Orvus gave her a grim look. “I think we will have to resume this conversation another time. You have to go.”_

_“No, wait- I-!”_

By then it was too late- Orvus had already kicked her out of the Dreamscape and back into reality. The ceiling above her sprawled form was riddled full of thick cracks, which slowly spread out into threatening branches. The Lombax sat up as fast as she could, grabbing her Versa-Mallet. The ancient sceptre was gone from its place on the steps. Another boom resounded throughout the temple, shattering the ceiling. Sachari let out a yelp and a hiss at the same time as debris started to fall all around her. And then a bright turquoise bubble expanded outward from her body, catching the rest of the still-falling giant stone pieces and slowing them down.

Sachari stared up at the seemingly floating shards of roof blankly- a voice in her head that could only be Orvus’ reprimanded her. _“Well? What are you waiting for?”_ he asked. _“Go! Now!”_ The feline scrambled onto her feet and was off like a bullet, making a beeline for the temple’s entrance. The building continued to crumble around her, ancient columns crashing into the floor, the sounds of stone crunching and twisting metal- she drowned it all out and set her focus solely on getting out of there before she got flattened into a pancake. As Sachari closed in on the closed temple door, she lifted her mallet and then brought it down on the stone- sending out a violent enough shockwave to practically shatter the rock in her way. She leapt through the now clear doorway, and tumbled out into the empty courtyard.

As Sachari got up onto her knees, she lifted her head and her jaw dropped slightly at all the destruction that lay before her. Entire towers and homes, much like the Fongoid temple, were completely decimated. The colourful banners that had been strung all around the village were on fire, as were the plants in the small gardens tucked next to what little remained of the buildings. “No… Em’al!” She scrambled to her feet and started running. “Em’al! Alpheus! Anyone?!”

_Where is he- where are they- heck, where is everybody- what happened- why is the village-_

“Sachari!”

The feline turned towards the source of the voice, and spotted Em’al and Alpheus making their way towards her from the other side of the courtyard. Scrap chirruped at the sight of the Lombax. “What happened?!” Sachari demanded as soon as they were closer.

“We were attacked,” Em’al answered. “While you were in the temple, a massive warship came flying over the village, and some fish in a robo-tank showed up-”

“That would be Lord Vorselon,” Alpheus added.

“Right! Anyway, he kept asking where Alister Azimuth was,” Em’al told Sachari, not breaking eye-contact for a single second. “None of us knew where he was, so Vorselon decided to send in some troopers. We tried to fight them off, but… there were too many.”

“We were able to get most of my people out of the village safely,” Alpheus said, “but Vorselon managed to take some of the warriors fighting alongside us prisoner… and then he… he slaughtered the rest.” A bitter expression came over the Fongoid’s face as they spoke those last few words.

“He must’ve come here because of me,” Sachari murmured to herself, looking away from both of them. “Because I’m a _Lombax,_ and he probably figured I’d know where Azimuth is.” She clenched her fists, a boiling hot rage bubbling up in her chest. “Where’s Vorselon now?”

“He’s probably on the edge of the system by now,” Alpheus told her, their voice quiet. “What are you planning to do?”

Sachari turned back around and looked them in the eye. “I’m gonna go rescue those prisoners… and then, I’m gonna get some answers out of Vorselon.”

“Follow me, then,” Alpheus told the two Rangers, turning away and heading down the path that lead back to the square. “Aside from the technology left inside the temple, there’s one last shred here in the village I’ve been meaning to dismantle- but now I’m glad I didn’t!”

As Sachari and Em’al followed Alpheus through the square, the Lombax’s heart broke at the stark change in scenery. The market was pretty much up in flames now, some of the market stands crumbling as the fire burnt them into a charred crisp, while others were now nothing more than coals. And all this destruction was the fault of one person…

 _Her._ It was _her_ fault.

If Vorselon really was looking for the same Alister Azimuth who went missing all those years ago along with Kaden, then it had to be Sachari’s fault. There was no way this was a coincidence, no matter what way you’d try to spin it. He’d come here, probably thinking that she’d know where Azimuth was, and when he didn’t get what he came for he burnt the whole place to the ground.

Sachari and Em’al followed Alpheus up a staircase, which led up to a wide, circular platform. In the centre of that platform sat a somewhat smaller teleportation pad, which was very rusty from old age.

Alpheus turned to face the Rangers and said, “This is where we part ways, for now. And do me a favour while you’re up there.” They looked directly at Sachari as they spoke. “When you meet Vorselon, make it painful. Make him _suffer.”_

* * *

_Back on Oozla…_

With Ratchet and Clank’s ship repaired, and Roger finally done installing the power core (it turned out Ratchet’s worries were for naught, as in addition to the power core Roger also had given the Omni-Wrench a couple of other upgrades), it was time to try to remove the temporal rift. Talwyn and Cronk stood off to the side, watching silently as the Lombax and the defect set the weird projector-thing- or “Portable Time Fixer” as Roger had dubbed it (seriously, what kind of a name was _that?!_ To Ratchet, it sounded like something right out of _Lance and Janice)_ down onto the concrete dock. The temporal anomaly, which had grown in diameter by several feet, was thankfully still situated over the swampy waters between the docks.

Ratchet tele-equipped his Omni-Wrench, and without further ado, he planted it in the opening provided by the Portable Time Fixer. _“Compatible power core detected,”_ the device’s A.I. announced. The projector flickered to life, displaying a somewhat crude-looking 3D image of the planet. Several large blue dots were spread out across the planet- most likely the temporal rifts. _“Several temporal abnormalities have been detected on this world. Would you like to initiate the cleansing procedure?”_

“Yes,” Both Ratchet and Clank- who was currently standing beside the feline- replied.

_“Confirmation received. Beginning cleansing procedure.”_

From the power core burst a beam of bright gold energy, which was directed at the globe-shaped map of the planet. Ratchet, taking a deep breath and tightening his grip on his wrench in the hopes of calming his nerves a little, directed the beam towards one of the blue dots on the planet’s surface. A few seconds passed by, and the dot began to fade away. At the same time, the temporal anomaly stationed over the swampy waters in front of them began to shrink as it collapsed in on itself. And in another couple seconds, the anomaly had vanished entirely.

“Outta sight,” Ratchet muttered to himself as he then tilted his wrench towards the next blue dot on the map, “outta mind.”

Within a few minutes, all the anomalies were gone from the planet. Most likely Oozla’s wildlife was going to stay as mutated as it already was, but at least now it wouldn’t be affected any further.

Provided no more rifts decide to show up, that is.

* * *

_Quantos- Aphelion’s crash site…_

Sachari walked up to the damaged Aphelion, a fearful uncertainty twisting in her gut. What if Orvus chose not to help her at all? What if he- _“I am, admittedly, somewhat surprised by your lack of faith in me,”_ Orvus’ voice echoed in her mind, bouncing off of her swarming thoughts and into her consciousness.

“Sachari?” Em’al addressed quietly.

Sachari didn’t seem to hear him, as she was currently occupied with the Zoni lifeform who had apparently chosen to reside in her body and pretty much invade her thoughts. Perhaps the latter was unintentional, but unless she asked Orvus directly, there was no way to know for sure. _“So does this mean you’ll help us or what?”_ she asked Orvus.

 _“What do you think?”_ Orvus shot back, a hint of mischievousness in his “voice.” _“Rest your hand on the side of your ship, and I will do the rest.”_ Sachari sighed and did as she was told, barely refraining from rolling her eyes. Several seconds ticked by, and then the hand she was resting on Aphelion was engulfed in a bright pale blue flash of Zoni bioenergy. Aphelion slowly rose into the air away from her, spinning in the air as swirls of energy weaved in and out of the vessel. Another, much larger flash of light engulfed the ship, and just as quickly vanished.

Aphelion- who was now decked out in black chrome with thin blue lines running all over her- settled down a few feet away. The ship tilted herself to look at Sachari curiously. “What happened?” Aphelion asked. “The last thing I remember, I had detected a temporal anomaly headed for us, and then… well, I can recall nothing after that.”

“We kinda crashed,” Sachari told her, ignoring the currently dumbstruck look on Em’al’s face as he stared at them. He kind of looked like a fish, with the way his jaw was dropped. “But we got some help, and were able to fix you,” the Lombax explained. She eyed the brand-new photon cannons that now sat on each side of Aphelion, between where her wings began and her main body ended. “Among other things,” Sachari added, not sure if she should be pleased or concerned by the amount of modifications Orvus had made to Aphelion.

 _“If you don’t like the paint job, you could just say so,”_ Orvus told the feline telepathically, his “tone” laced with amusement. Sachari just ignored the Zoni and turned to face Em’al, who by this point had managed to regain his composure. Mostly.

“C’mon,” she said, “let’s go pay Vorselon a visit.”

* * *

_Later… in the Talos Star System…_

On their way to Maktar Nation Resort, Ratchet and Clank had spoken to Elaris via the ship’s communication. After relaying to her the whole possible-conspiracy thing going on in Megacorp and Talwyn’s idea, and then discussing the matter a little further, she agreed to look into it.

“There’s no guarantees, of course,” Elaris told them. “So don’t get your hopes up too high. I’ll contact you guys later and let you know how things go.”

“Thanks Elaris.” Ratchet smiled as his eyes took in the sight of her on his viewscreen. He really missed her. A lot. As soon as this whole "Megacorp Experiment conspiracy" thing was over, Ratchet was going to make sure to set aside time to spend with her. Like, hanging out with her. As friends. Definitely nothing more than that.

“No problem,” Elaris replied, smiling back at them both. “Be careful, okay guys?”

“We will do our best,” Clank reassured her.

“Good. I’ll talk to you again soon- Elaris out.”

After the transmission ended, for a long moment, no sound filled the cockpit. Only silence. Clank broke it by saying, “So…”

“‘So,’ what?” Ratchet asked, looking over at the defect with a raised eyebrow.

“Why have you not told Elaris how you feel about her?”

Ratchet gently smacked his head against the steering wheel a couple times, not believing what he was hearing. When he was done, he looked back over at Clank- who had his arms crossed, eyes narrowed in disapproval. Clearly the robot was waiting for an answer. “We’re doing this _now??_ Seriously?!? Clank, we’ve got bigger things to worry about right now.”

“It will take us half an hour to reach Maktar Nation Resort,” Clank shot back. “We have ample time to discuss this matter. And besides, you are my friend. It is not just my duty to help you when the need arises. I _want_ to help you if I can.”

“Right, right. Do you need a recap about my sad histor-” Ratchet’s words were cut short as the ship’s communication array pinged loudly. The Lombax pressed the button on the dashboard to answer, not giving Clank a chance to continue.

Talwyn’s face appeared on the viewscreen, and her voice was tinged with anxiety. “Cronk and I just detected a group of ships headed your way- they look like they might be spac-” Her transmission was cut short, and replaced by static for a few seconds before the face of none other than Captain Slag appeared on the viewscreen.

“Well well _well,”_ Slag drawled, an evil smirk on his face. “Look what the Krath Beast dragged in. Fancy meetin’ ye here, space rat!! NOW… to show ye exactly what happens when ye mess with us space pirates!!” He whipped his head to the side and shouted to someone off-screen, “PETE!!! Load up the photon cannons! We’re havin’ _Lombax stew_ tonight!”

“Aye aye- hic!- cap’n!” came the reply. Just as Slag had turned his head back to face Ratchet and Clank, tremor resounded through the pirate’s ship. Sparks flew from the walls and consoles in the background of the screen.

“Blasted Markazian!!” Slag hissed. “She’s the one who keeps destroyin’ my shipments of RYNO parts!! Shoot _her_ down _first_ \- and _then_ we’ll deal with the Lombax and his trash can of a backpack!”

“Or, more accurately,” Ratchet spoke up, whipping his ship about and charging up the weapons, _“first_ , _we’ll_ deal with _you_. If you let us go, nobody gets hurt.”

“‘If ye let us go, nobody gets hurt,’” Slag parroted in a mocking tone. “Says the Lombax in the puny ship, with his puny guns.”

“Ooooo- you have _proton cannons_ ,” Ratchet mocked right back at him, taking aim at the ship’s photon cannons with his own vessel’s blasters. “I’m _sooooo_ scared!” He then turned his attention back to the viewscreen that displayed their ship’s targeting system, and pressed the button next to it.

“They’re _photon cannons!!”_ Slag practically roared before cutting off communication entirely.

A pair of missiles burst out from each of Ratchet’s ship’s wings and charged towards their target- Slag’s photon cannons. The missiles hit the aforementioned cannons, bursting into flames upon impact. The Lombax wasted no time and pressed his thumbs down on the “fire” buttons installed on each side of the steering wheel. A continuous burst of blaster fire rained down from his ship and hit Slag’s.

Meanwhile, Talwyn was busy dealing with the other space pirate ships- quickly taking out one of them without breaking too much of a sweat. Slag’s battle ship was proving to be more of a challenge, however. So far Ratchet’s missiles and blasters weren’t doing all that much damage- it didn’t even look like they were putting any dents in it.

Clank, who was busy scanning the ship for any particularly useful weak points on the ship, turned his head to look at Ratchet. “See if you are able to shoot a missile up the ship’s grog barrel disposal shaft.”

“Got it! Uhh, where is the grog barrel thing, exactly?”

“I will direct you to it,” Clank answered, looking back down at the scanners’ display module. “Rotate vertically by 260 degrees, and horizontally by 45 degrees.” Ratchet followed Clank’s directions, and quickly began approaching their target. “Fire missiles in three… two… one!” The Lombax slammed his fist down on the missile launcher button, sending a pair of the explosive rockets up the grog barrel disposal shaft. A massive chunk of the ship was then consumed in an explosion. Moments later, several escape pods separated from the heavily damaged vessel, speedily making their descent to the nearest moon for safety.

Talwyn had taken care of the other two space pirate ships, and was now flying her ship towards Ratchet’s. The Lombax’s communications array pinged again, and he answered. Talwyn’s and Cronk’s faces appeared on the viewscreen. “Nice job out there, rooks! Ya kicked Slag’s keister real good!”

“Well, let’s just hope he’s learned his lesson this time,” Ratchet replied, looking over at the moon to which the escape pods were headed.

“I sincerely doubt it,” Clank said, tapping his chin in thought. “Considering Captain Slag’s history, I think it is safe to say his desire to kill us has only grown. That is, assuming he survived the damage done to his ship.”

* * *

_Zolar Sector- Vorselon’s Warship…_

Sachari set Aphelion down gently on the warship’s landing pad, a grim expression set on her face. Strangely enough, they hadn’t been attacked when they had first approached the ship. She’d have thought Vorselon would have detected their presence by now. Perhaps he did detect them, and was waiting for her inside.

But this was no time to start spiraling. She had to rescue the Fongoid prisoners, regardless of whether or not this was a trap.

“Let’s go,” Sachari told Em’al, slipping on her O2 mask and handing him one as well. He nodded, settling his on his head. Aphelion’s cockpit opened up and the Lombax, Aez’ear, and his robotic companion were able to exit. As soon as Sachari’s feet hit the ground, a blurry image flashed before her eyes and her body felt like it was being consumed by fire. A scream left her mouth, but the voice that went with it wasn’t her own. Regardless, the voice belonging to those terrible screams was ominously familiar, she thought, as it grated painfully against her ears.

As this vision flashed before the Lombax’s eyes, she had fallen onto her knees and palms. Em’al was instantly at her side, calling her name and asking what was wrong while examining her for any injuries. Scrap chirruped in fear, and Aphelion’s concerned voice cut in now and then. It was a moment or two before Sachari finally came back to her senses. She was breathing heavily, her O2 mask _whooshing_ with each breath, and her eyes were scrunched shut.

“Are you alright?” Aphelion asked, having tilted herself to face the two felines. “For a moment there, I detected a massive energy surge running through your body. It is gone now. But it was rather quite similar in composition to the temporal anomaly that disabled me and caused us to crash on Quantos.”

Em’al helped Sachari to her feet as Aphelion spoke. “I’m fine,” the Lombax told them. “I _think_ , anyway…” She pulled away from Em’al and took a step towards towards the entrance of Vorselon’s ship, her body trembling. “ _What was that?”_ she asked Orvus.

 _“I am not entirely sure,”_ Orvus admitted as Sachari’s tremors slowly started to cease.

 _“That’s really helpful,”_ the Lombax thought sarcastically. She sensed that this comment didn’t go unnoticed by the Zoni currently occupying her head, but surprisingly he didn’t say a word about it.

As Sachari and Em’al made their way up the Magne-Ramp, the feline tele-equipped her Versa-Mallet. At the top of the ramp, they spotted what appeared to be the door they had detected when scanning Vorselon’s ship, as well as a control module next to it. Em’al approached it and said to Scrap, his voice distorted by the O2 mask, “Alright Scrap- time to put your mini-Trespasser to some good use.”

Scrap chirruped in agreement and clambered down his right arm, which he had lifted in front of the module so the little robot could reach it. Scrap clung to his gloved wrist with her metal claws and stuck her head forward, opening her mouth. A small, thin pole shot out and plugged into the outlet provided by the module. The pole rotated clockwise for a bit, then counterclockwise, as if she were trying to open a safe.

The module gave a satisfactory click, and the door was open. Scrap separated from the module and clambered back up to her usual spot on Em’al’s shoulders. The Lombax and Aez’ear entered the ship and started heading down the hallway ahead. A group of Microdrones greeted them, trying to zap the pair. The enemy robots swiftly met their end at the weapons of Sachari, Em’al, and Scrap. The Rangers then resumed their trek down the corridor, which- after a turn or two- opened up into a cylindrically-shaped room that was lined from top to bottom with magnetic panels. Red lasers blocked the group’s way in. Fortunately, someone (that someone being the ship’s designer, whoever that might be) had installed a Versa-Fuse on the wall just a few feet away. One smash from Sachari’s mallet, and the lasers were disabled.

Sachari and Em’al quickly made their way to the other side of the room, which had an open door leading to what appeared to be an empty elevator shaft. It wasn’t empty for long- a few seconds later, the elevator itself came crawling up to a stop, and its doors _swooshed_ open. Inside sat an unsuspecting robotic trooper armed with a motorised saw on each arm, and wearing a disturbingly familiar green glass dome on his head. A few zaps from Em’al’s rifle effectively put the machine out of commission. The two felines stepped into the elevator (after having removed the troopers’ remains), and it began to rise up to the next level.

“Fred,” a robotic voice called from the other end of the room as the elevator doors slid open, “is that you? Dex says Lord Vorselon shot another trooper two minutes ago- you owe me five bolts.” Sachari- Em’al close behind her- snuck up to the trooper, who was parked in front of a computer and had his back to them. The feline raised her mallet and smashed hard it into the machine’s dome. Then, for good measure, she lifted the weapon back up and brought it down on the trooper again. The trooper’s cranium sparked with each impact, and the hum of gears moving in his body died down.

“Alright, let’s see if we can use this to find where the prisoners are located on this ship,” Em’al said, approaching the computer console. He tapped a few icons on the keyboard in front of him and glanced up at the holographic display being projected before him. “Hmm, looks like the detention wing is two floors down from here. And the escape pods are located on the floor below detention.”

“What about Vorselon?” Sachari asked, approaching him.

“Most likely interrogating the prisoners for information,” Em’al answered. “I could do a sensor sweep of the ship to find out for sure, but that might trigger an alert and they’ll know we’re here.”

“Is there an interrogation room somewhere, then?”

“Yeah,” Em’al replied. “It’s on the same floor as the prisoners’ cells.”

Sachari gave a nod and said, “Let’s go.” They went back to the elevator, and- after Scrap managed to hack the elevator’s controls- were able to descend to the detention wing. As the doors _swished_ open, a pair of troopers- these particular ones were armed with blasters rather than saws- guarding the prisoners’ cells spotted the Rangers inside the elevator and started shooting at them. The troopers clearly had terrible aim, as several of their shots went wide and hit some nearby computers instead. Sachari rushed forth towards one of the troopers, throwing her mallet directly in his face. The weapon flew back into her hand as she continued her swift approach and then leapt forward, bringing the mallet down on the trooper’s dome.

Within moments, the trooper was disabled for good.

A few shots from Em’al’s rifle and several zaps from Scrap, and nothing remained of the other trooper save for a pile of melted panels, shattered glass, and sparking circuits.

While all this fighting had gone on, the Fongoids cheered them on. “Kick their butts! Yeah!” “Take that!” “That one broke my staff!” Now that it was over, there was still the matter of getting the warriors out of their cells and to the escape pods.

“Stand back,” Sachari warned the Fongoids as her eyes locked onto a Versa-Fuse on the nearby wall. “It’s time for ‘Operation: Jailbreak!’”

* * *

_Maktar Nation Resort…_

Ratchet and Clank waited as Talwyn grabbed her rifle from the back of her ship and hopped out onto the landing pad. The Lombax frowned when he didn’t see Cronk following her. He looked towards the cockpit again and saw Cronk was still sitting there, apparently testing the engines for some reason. “Cronk!!” he called to the robot. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Huh?” Cronk lifted his head and looked at the feline. “Sorry, rooks- I didn’t catch that.”

“My partner was wondering if you are accompanying us or not,” Clank explained.

“Oh! Well- you see, there’s a Thugs-4-Less jamming array not far from this station that I need to destroy,” Cronk told them. “Deprive me of my Tuesday night _Unicop_ -a-thon will they?! Well, I’ll show them!!” And with that, he closed up the ship’s cockpit and blasted off into space, headed towards the jamming array.

Ratchet and Clank looked over at Talwyn, who just shrugged and said, “It’s no use trying to talk him out of it. I told him twice already that he could just watch _Unicop_ Thursdays on the other channel, but he really doesn’t want to change his schedule.”

“Yeah… we can kinda tell,” Ratchet snarked.

“Will he be alright?” Clank asked her, concerned for the warbot’s safety- from what he’s heard, the Thugs-4-Less were no joke in terms of the danger they posed.

“He can take care of himself,” Talwyn told them. “This isn’t the first time he’s done this.”

“Well, at least it’s not _Lance and Janice,”_ Ratchet commented as the three of them made their way down the ramp towards the arena entrance.

“Last year it _was,”_ Talwyn replied drily. The feline cringed at this information. In his personal opinion, the only show worse than _Unicop_ was _Lance and Janice._ As the three entered the lobby, Ratchet couldn’t help it- his jaw dropped at the sight expanding out before him. The walls were lined with various types of weapons of mass destruction, and the statues of previous famous gladiators were poised along either side of the wide red carpet he and his companions were walking on. Fighters from all different parts of this galaxy and others flocked the room, some chattering away with their friends in groups, and others standing ominously off to the side, a few sharpening their nails with blades- both clean and well, not-so-clean.

Ratchet recognised a few of the species here- some were Agorians, others were Snivelians, and a couple others looked like Cazars and Rilgarians. None of the other species he saw were familiar in the slightest.

“Whoa,” the Lombax murmured in awe.

Talwyn approached the front desk, Ratchet and Clank close behind. “Hi,” the Markazian said to the Agorian sitting at the desk. “We’re here to apply for your ‘Chainblade and B2 Brawler Challenge.’”

The Agorian looked up at her, yellow eyes widening in surprise. “Oooh, fresh _meat!”_ Talwyn raised an eyebrow at zhir words, and the Agorian coughed awkwardly. “My apologies- I’ll set you up for the challenge now.”

While the Agorian took care of that, Talwyn looked over at the two Rangers at her side. “You guys ready?”

Ratchet smirked and replied, “Heck yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you unaware, "zhir" is a neopronoun- there are many others, such as "zhe/zhir/zhirs/zhirself", "xe/xim/xis/ximself", "ne/nym/nis/nymself", etc.


	5. V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism is always appreciated- FLAMES, however, are NOT.

_Vorselon’s ship…_

Sachari smashed the Versa-Fuse with her mallet, and the forcefields trapping the Fongoids flickered out of existence. The alarms bolted to the room’s walls blared loudly, announcing the prisoners’ escape. There was no doubt Vorselon knew they were here now. As the Fongoid warriors hurried out of their cells as fast as they could, the Lombax turned to face Em’al. “See if you can get them to the escape pods and get off this ship- I’ll deal with Vorselon.”

Em’al nodded and then extended his arm out to Sachari as he looked at Scrap. “Keep her safe for me, will you?” Scrap chirruped in reply and scurried down his arm, and then leapt onto her shoulder. Sachari smiled at him and gave a nod. The two parted ways, the Fongoids leaving with Em’al and Scrap with her.

Sachari looked back at Em’al’s and the Fongoids’ retreating forms one more time as they got into the elevator before turning away and heading to the opposite end of the room, where a sealed door lay between her and whatever area lay beyond. Scrap hacked into the control module, and within moments, the door was open. On the other side lay what appeared to be a bridge leading to another, similar looking door. The feline ran across the bridge towards the door and opened it. Inside was what looked like the interrogation chamber, though it was empty at the moment.

Still, it couldn’t hurt to take a look around.

As she started searching the room, Sachari couldn’t help but take notice of one particular chair constructed on one end of the line of chairs taking up the room. It was different from the others, given that it had a series of large computers placed around it, with wires and plugs strewn all around. She walked up to one of the computers and started looking through the programs in it. These programs didn’t look like they were coded to wipe a mind- whoever they tortured using this chair, their mind wasn’t wiped. Rather, it was probably overridden. This particular program was designed to target the infected individual’s worst memories and replay them over and over at a fast enough rate to overwhelm and collapse the person’s true consciousness in order replace it with another.

Likely this was designed solely to use on a robot, but for all Sachari knew it could probably be used on organics too.

 _“I have a terrible feeling about this,”_ Orvus spoke up as he received this information from Sachari’s mind. _“I suggest we find Lord Vorselon while we still can and retrieve the answers we seek before we get caught. Otherwise… we might be next.”_

 _“Agreed,”_ Sachari replied as she took a step back from the computer and headed towards the door at the other end of the room. She opened it and and walked through to the other side, into what appeared to be a cylindrical chamber- what purpose it served, she had no idea.

Across from her stood none other than Vorselon himself. The floating head-in-a-tank regarded her with a disgusted sneer and asked, “So, how did you like my interrogation room, Lombax?”

 _“Meh._ I’ve seen _waaaayyy_ better- you should check out Viceron sometime,” Sachari snarked, casually twirling her mallet between her fingers. “Who are you working for, and what do you want with Alister Azimuth?”

“You’re on _my_ turf, Lombax,” Vorselon snarled, “so I get to ask the questions! _Where_ is Azimuth?!”

“I don’t know where he is, and even if I did, I’d rather die than tell you,” the feline told him, getting into a battle stance. She knew what was coming.

“That can be arranged.” Both enemies stood there for a moment, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

“Then bring it on, _fish face,”_ Sachari growled, right before charging towards Vorselon.

* * *

_Maktar Nation Resort…_

“Are you ready to PLAY?!?” the arena announcer shouted into his mike as Ratchet, Clank, and Talwyn entered the to-be battlefield. Across from them, a pair of people in Maktar Corporation and Annihilation Nation could be seen dragging a thoroughly maimed corpse off the platform. “Introducing from NOWHERE in particular… these guys! If they can fight off six rounds of swarming bloodthirsty warriors, get through our _brand new_ death course- courtesy of Annihilation Nation- and then defeat Chainblade and the B2 Brawler in the seventh round, then they’ll go home with this Infiltrator!” On the four giant viewscreens bolted to the ceiling above three contestants, an image of the aforementioned hacking device appeared on the screen. “But if they _can’t_ make it past our gladiators, they’ll receive a _‘consolation_ ’ prize!” The image of the Infiltrator was then replaced by one of a gravestone with a skull on it.

“I… I do not see how that is a ‘prize’ at all,” Clank said, tapping a finger to his chin as he looked up at the screen.

“Let the GAMES begin!”

Clank sighed, shaking his head as he climbed onto Ratchet’s back. Meanwhile the Lombax in question tele-equipped his Combuster and watched as one of the arena’s loading tubes extended forward and opened up- releasing three Agorians and two Chainsaw Maktar Security Robots (or CMSRs for short) onto the platform.

“Wouldja look at that- a Lombax!” one of the Agorians called to his buddies.

“Oooh, you think they’d let us carve them up for dinner?” another Agorian called back, pulling a pair of switchblades from the two sheathes harnessed to her back. “I haven’t had roast Lombax before!”

Ratchet rolled his eyes and pointed his Combuster at the nearest Agorian, pulling the trigger. The reptile leapt out of the way just in time, narrowly avoiding the roaring ball of flames. The Agorian then pulled a spiked mace off of his belt, smirking as he started approaching the feline. “Tiiiime to _diiiee,_ Lombax!” The other two Agorians decided to join in, apparently intent on ganging up on him.

Meanwhile, Talwyn had tele-equipped a pair of matching N60 Storms and was busy blowing away the two CMSRs. Once the robots were nothing more than piles of shrapnel and circuitry, she turned her attention to Ratchet, who was busy fighting off the Agorians. The feline did a backflip as the Agorian with the mace tried to smash him with it. As Ratchet’s feet touched the ground, the Lombax quickly pointed his Combuster at the aforementioned Agorian and fired. This time the ball of fire struck its target directly in the chest, and the Agorian was down and out. One of the other Agorians let out a vicious roar and pointed his Spiral of Carnage at the feline, at the same time pulling the trigger.

“How the heck are we gonna survive _six_ rounds of _this_ _AND_ a _death course?!?”_ Ratchet muttered to no one in particular as he dashed to the side to avoid the three blue spinning blades of death.

“Do not forget about the final round with ‘Chainblade and the B2 Brawler,’” Clank said.

“That’s really not helping!”

* * *

_Vorselon’s Warship…_

Sachari threw her mallet at Vorselon, striking him right in the chest. Sparks flew from the cyborg’s metal frame as it crumpled slightly under the impact. The aforementioned weapon sailed back into the Lombax’s hand. She dodged to the side as the now very angry cyborg pointed his clawed arm at her and fired a barrage of crackling, electrical balls from his claw’s node.

Upon seeing that his attack failed, Vorselon chose to go invisible. The cloaking device on his suit clicked on, and as his body started to disappear into thin air, he declared, “Now you see me… now you _don’t!”_ Sachari thought quickly, her heart racing. Deciding that this course of action was her best bet, she jumped up into the air and as she fell, brought her mallet down onto the floor as hard as she could. A thunderous shockwave of electricity shot outward from the weapon and hit Vorselon, electrocuting him.

Vorselon’s frame jerked around a bit as the electricity coursed through his metallic body, and then let out a loud screech of pain as the voltage finally reached his tank. The cyborg collapsed onto the floor in a heap. Sachari walked up to him and put a foot on his chest as she leaned over him, glaring. “So, let’s start with the easy questions. Who do you work for, and what do you want with Alister Azimuth?”

Vorselon smirked at her as the light started to fade a bit from his eyes. “If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me, Lombax. Self-destruct code alpha-” He paused for a moment and watched with some amusement as the feline tried to smash his tank open, while Scrap tried to cut it open with her laser- both to no avail. “-theta epsilon gamma. Initiate.”

 _“Self-destruct sequence initiated,”_ the ship’s computer announced, its voice crackling loudly over the speakers. _“Ship will self-destruct in T-minus sixty seconds.”_

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” Sachari muttered, getting off of Vorselon. She ran out of the chamber and into a nearby hallway. To her left she saw what appeared to be an airlock door. She pressed a button on her glove, activating her comm. “Aphelion, I’m activating my emergency beacon! Follow it to my position!”

 _“Understood,”_ Aphelion replied. _“I’m coming.”_

“Scrap, see if you can get this thing open,” Sachari said, just as the ship’s computer announced that there were “T-minus forty-five seconds” left. Scrap slid down the feline’s now outstretched arm, plugged into the outlet next to the door, and got to work. The seconds continued to tick closer and closer to oblivion. _Come on, come on…_ The module gave a loud _click_ , and Scrap chirped happily as she climbed back onto the Lombax’s shoulder. Sachari wasted no time and double checked to make sure her O2 mask was still secure before whipping open the door and leaping out into space. She kicked on her boot thrusters and propelled herself away from the soon-to-be-exploding ship as fast as she could. Scrap clung onto the feline’s shoulder tightly, chirping nervously. Aphelion quickly came into her sights, the cockpit open and ready.

Sachari latched onto one of Aphelion’s wings and clambered inside. The window shut closed after her just as Vorselon’s ship was engulfed in a massive burst of flames. Sachari sighed tiredly, shaking her head as she buckled her seat belt. Scrap settled onto the seat beside her, sneezing up a storm from all the space dust.

 _Well, that_ really _went well,_ Sachari thought sarcastically. The communication array pinged loudly. “Welp. There goes my train of thought.” She then answered the call as the array pinged again. “Hello?”

“Hey, Sachari!” Em’al’s face crackled to life on Aphelion’s viewscreen. “We managed to get on the escape pod and we’re headed for Quantos now. We managed to get everyone out. Did you get anything out of Vorselon? We could see his ship exploding from here… I almost thought that… well, you were still on it.”

“Scrap and I are okay,” Sachari told him. “But I got absolutely nothing out of Vorselon. Well, except for the pretty obvious fact that he was suicidal. I still have no idea who he was working for- if he was even working for anyone except for himself- or why he was after Azimuth in the first place.”

“I see,” Em’al said. He looked over at something off-screen for a moment, presumably one of the Fongoid warriors. He then turned his head to look back at her. “Lerrisa here says she knows someone who might know where Azimuth is. His name’s Necromi Arcandor- he’s a smuggler who typically hangs around in Stratus City on planet Kortog. I’m sending you the coordinates and a picture of him now. He’s usually at the city’s docks, looking for work. You might be able to find him there.”

“Thanks Em’al,” Sachari replied, giving him a small smile. “I’ll come back to Quantos and pick you up.”

“No need,” Em’al told her. “I’m gonna stay here and help the Fongoids for now- their village has seen better days and I can’t in good conscience just leave without trying to help fix some of the damage. Besides, someone’s still gotta go to the Expanse and take those scans. Might as well be me. After all, I've got this shuttle we're in right now that I can use.”

Sachari nodded in response. “Okay- I’ll head over to Stratus City. Good luck over there.”

Em’al smiled at her. “You too. Bye, you guys. I’ll see you soon!” He gave the Lombax and Scrap a little wave before ending the transmission.

 _“So why did you, the Zoni, and the Lombaxes all just disappear?”_ Sachari asked Orvus as she put in the coordinates. _“There had to have been a reason… right?”_

 _“Yes,”_ Orvus answered hesitantly. _“There was, many,_ many _centuries ago. We the Zoni had learned of an ancient threat we had long thought to be dead. This threat is known to us as the Red Death. It… it is not a living being. It is a virus, of a sort. It knows only_ pure _evil, and its plague feeds on any and all life it touches- like the ravenous beast that it is- and hijacks the bodies of any animals or sentient species it captures to use for its army. It seeks to spread itself all across the universe, taking over all that exists. And the Lombaxes are- or rather,_ were- _the key. Back when they had the Dimensionator, before Cora Veralux took it from Grelbin.”_

Sachari wasn’t surprised that Orvus knew this tidbit of information- after all, Angela had told her what they found (or rather, _didn’t_ find) in the old Lombax enclave on Grelbin. And since Orvus was in her head, literally speaking, he had access to that information.

_“So that’s why we all went into hiding?”_

_“Yes. The Lombaxes followed our warning, and all retreated to various, largely unpopulated corners of the galaxy. In turn, their empire was dissolved. As for the Zoni and I, we remained in the Great Clock. We were the only other ones who knew the location of the Dimensionator. If the Red Death found us, then… it was for the good of the universe that we stay hidden until the Red Death is vanquished.”_

Sachari thought for a moment, digesting this information, and then asked, _“So then, how’d you wind up on Quantos?”_

 _“I… am uncertain,”_ Orvus replied. _“I can recall certain images and sensations from whatever I experienced prior to my captivity on Quantos, but nothing beyond that.”_

Sachari didn’t like the sound of that. Sure, she got some answers, but with those answers came more questions.

* * *

_Maktar Nation Arena…_

Ratchet panted heavily as he blew away the last Snivelian gladiator with his Constructo Pistol, and was relieved when the announcer shouted into the mike, “Well well well! Would you look at that, folks? They survived six rounds of high-intensity slicing and dicing! Now to see if you can survive our _death course!”_

Talwyn shook her head and unequipped her N60 Storms as she approached Ratchet and Clank. The massive door at the other end of the arena slowly slid upwards, revealing a pathway leading up to what was clearly a _very_ deadly obstacle course. The Lombax took one look at it and muttered, “I hate this resort. I’ll bet Cronk’s having an easier time than us!”

_Meanwhile… on the Thugs-4-Less Jamming Array…_

On the moon, standing on one of the jamming towers constructed by the Thugs-4-Less was the very warbot himself, surrounded by a group of orange-coloured Chickenbots armed with sharp fangs.

“Back! Get _back!_ Don’t make me shoot, ya li’l whippersnappers!” Cronk pointed his assault rifle at the nearest Chickenbot- who was now charging towards him, its maw wide open- and pulled the trigger, the round blowing the tiny, sharp-toothed machine up upon impact. “I _hate_ Chickenbots,” he muttered in disgust as he blew away another one.

_Back in the Maktar Nation Arena…_

Ratchet leapt from the main platform to the one ahead, which was moving back and forth over a bubbling, red-orange lava pit. He then leapt to the next one and glanced back as Talwyn followed after him, taking it slow and steady. They couldn’t afford to make _any_ mistakes. If they did, it would cost them their lives. The feline spied a Dynamo target off to the side, and so he tele-equipped the Dynamo that Fred had given him. Ratchet took aim at the target and zapped it. The Dynamo target started to hum softly, and a bright yellow-green Holo-Pad flickered to life before them.

Ratchet jumped onto it, his feet not making a sound as they came into contact with the Holo-Pad. Talwyn followed after him, and finally landed right beside him on the Holo-Pad. The Lombax frowned as he took in the sight of the course ahead of them- there was no way they were going to make it through this section without getting themselves killed. The long platform ahead was riddled full of tubes on the top, which spurt out flames every now and then. Perhaps there was a pattern to it, but the feline wasn’t seeing it. His ear twitched as it caught the sound of the Dynamo target starting to tick its countdown.

“Over here!” Talwyn called to Ratchet. The Lombax looked over to see she was clinging to the course’s rock wall, slowly making her way to the other side.

Ratchet followed after her, tele-equipping his Swingshot and grappling onto the rock just as the Holo-Pad finally disintegrated. “Now why didn’t I think of this?” he asked Clank.

“Think of what??” the defect asked blankly- he couldn’t exactly see what the situation was, given the fact that he was on Ratchet’s back and therefore was facing the opposite direction.

“Ehh, never mind.” Ratchet dug his fingers into the rock and disengaged his Swingshot’s grapple. He inched across the rock quickly but carefully, glancing over at Talwyn every now and then to make sure she was alright. Within a minute or two, they made it to the other side.

“Wow! They got past our Path of Barbeque Death in a very _unorthodox_ manner- and _unscathed!”_ the arena announcer shouted into his microphone. The audience watching from their stands cheered loudly in enthusiasm.

Ratchet and Talwyn weren’t paying any attention to the announcer at this point- they were too busy blowing up a pair of Bash Bots that were spinning round and round right with their mace-like arms, right in the way of where they needed to go. Once the two Bash Bots were nothing more than piles of smoldering shrapnel, Ratchet and Talwyn approached a set of three large tubes going down an incline. Evidently they would have to slide down it in order to progress any further through the course.

Both Lombax and Markazian clambered into separate tubes and slid down to the other side. As Ratchet popped out of his tube at the bottom and his feet hit the platform below, his Rift Tether HUD flickered to life before his eyes, displaying a rift directly in front of the finishing point. Talwyn stood beside him and asked in puzzlement, “What’re you looking at?”

“It looks like there’s a rift over there at the finish,” Ratchet answered, pointing to the visible-to-him-but-not-to-her object in question.

“I don’t see anything.”

“If Ratchet says it is there,” Clank spoke up, “then it is there.”

“And the worst part is that if we tried using it, it would probably wind up being considered _cheating,”_ Ratchet growled in annoyance.

“In other words, we still have to take the long way?” Talwyn asked drily.

“Yup,” Ratchet replied. “Just our luck.”

“Guess we better get moving then,” Talwyn said, already heading towards the next set of moving platforms. Ratchet just sighed and followed after her- she was right. They still had a death course to finish, _AND_ they had to defeat both Chainblade and the B2 Brawler in the final part of the challenge.

 _My gut feeling_ was _right,_ Ratchet thought. _Today’s turning out to be a_ pretty _long day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to whoever manages to guess correctly from what planet the "Red Death" comes from. Hint: the planet has two names. One of them starts with the letter "M". Either of the two names you manage to guess is correct.
> 
> Hopefully that's not too obvious...


	6. VI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm definitely not 100% happy with this chapter, so if anyone has any thoughts on how to improve it, even if only by a little, please feel free to suggest them.

_Stratus City- Planet Kortog…_

Sachari set Aphelion down on the nearest set of docks on Stratus City. After making sure her nav-unit was secure and that Scrap got a pint or two of oil, the Lombax clambered out of the vessel, Scrap on her shoulders and Versa-Mallet in hand. The feline instantly felt uncomfortable with how crowded the place was. People of various species from all different galaxies seemed to have congregated here, to trade, to look for work, or even just to lurk around in general. Unlike the pleasant, airy atmosphere of the Fongoid village, this city was stifling. It didn’t help that because Stratus City was floating _very_ high up off the ground, it was difficult enough to breathe to begin with.

 _“I don’t like this place one bit,”_ Sachari told Orvus. _“Way too many people here…”_

 _“I would have to agree- it does feel rather… claustrophobic,”_ Orvus observed. _“Now that my powers have gotten a little stronger, I will send out a small temporal ripple- it’s nothing dangerous, mind you. But it may help us to locate the smuggler.”_ Sachari almost nodded in response, but remembered at the last second that they were talking to each other in her head- not face to face. Her face heated up a little with embarrassment. Orvus merely chuckled in amusement, and then released a small ripple. As he had promised, it didn’t seem to affect anything around them really, save for slowing everyone else down for just a couple of seconds. _“I believe I have located the smuggler. Once you reach the central platform, turn right and head towards that long ramp. He should be waiting by a rather decrepit ship at the bottom.”_

 _“Got it!”_ Sachari replied, sprinting towards the ramp as fast as she could without bumping into someone. She skidded to a stop when she felt just how weak Orvus was. How come she didn’t notice this earlier?? _“Orvus, what’s going on? Are you okay?”_

 _“I’m quite alright…”_ His tired voice trailed off uncertainly.

 _“You should rest,”_ Sachari told him. _“You_ need _to rest. And don’t argue with me on this- I don’t take no for an answer when it comes to this sorta thing.”_

 _“Very well- but if you need me, let me know,”_ Orvus said just as firmly.

 _“Get some rest,”_ Sachari repeated, resuming her sprint towards the ramp. She scurried down it, weaving between the groups of people on it as she made her descent. Soon enough, the smuggler- or Necromi Arcandor, as Em’al explained- came into view. The man looked pretty much like the picture Em’al had provided, save for the big-eyed parrot hanging out on his shoulder.

“Squawk! A Lombax!” the parrot announced, pointing his wing at Sachari as she walked up to them. “Kill them now, sell their kidneys! Squawk!”

“I’m sorry, what?” Sachari stopped her approach once she was a few feet away from them. Scrap hissed at the parrot’s words, glaring at him in warning as her zapper poked up at him out of the tiny hole in her head. The smuggler turned away from his ship- Sachari had assumed it was his ship, anyway- and gave her a look as he studied her with his one good eye. “Are you Necromi Arcandor?” the feline asked him, frowning.

“And if I am?” Arcandor’s hand brushed the handle of his sword threateningly. Scrap looked at him and growled in warning.

“I need some information,” The Lombax told him firmly, standing her ground. “What’s the current location of Alister Azimuth?”

“Ohh, _that_ kind of information…” Arcandor paused for a few seconds. “Well, it’s goin’ to cost you.”

“Awk! Leviathan Souls, tell them to get us some Leviathan Souls!” Arcandor’s parrot suggested. Arcandor considered his parrot’s words for a moment, and then nodded.

“Yes. Yes… if you can get us some Leviathan Souls, we’ll help you,” the smuggler explained. “You’ll need to board a transport to the planet’s surface to do that. If you’re willin’ to do this, I’ll upload the location and time of the next city-to-planet transit shuttle. Do we have a deal?”

“I… guess?” Sachari could only stare at them in utter confusion. “What’s a Leviathan Soul, exactly?”

“It’s an extremely valuable energy source found only inside the Raritanium and Kreelium minerals on this planet,” Arcandor replied. “No one knows exactly what they are or where they came from- the first settlers of this world named them Leviathan Souls, literally believin’ them to be the souls of the Leviathans that once lived on the surface, before they all went extinct.”

“Hmm, interesting,” Sachari commented while thinking to herself, _That sounds an awful like my home planet, with the Leviathans and moonstones…_ She decided _not_ to give _that_ particular piece of information to the smuggler.

“Indeed it is, little Lombax,” Arcandor agreed, tapping a button on the bracer around his wrist. “Alright, I uploaded the information to your nav-unit. I’ll probably still be here by the time you get back. If not, then I’m probably at the local pub.”

“Got it,” Sachari said, not overly-fond of the idea of playing errand cat for the next several hours. But it wasn’t as if she had much choice in the matter, and complaining sure wasn’t going to help. “How many Leviathan Souls do you need?”

“Five will do me just fine,” the smuggler answered.

“Squawk! I’m supposed to get fifty percent of everything, remember?” his parrot asked. “Awk!”

“Fine, fine- _six_ Leviathan Souls,” Arcandor told her. “And watch out for the Desert Dune Beholders- they’re giant pesky varmints that like to hide under debris near the crystals and only come out whenever any potential prey is approaching. There are other predators down there you need to watch out for, but the Beholders are the _worst_ of the bunch. The city-to-planet transits return to their landing pads every hour, so I doubt you’ll have to wait too long for one to come back and pick you up.”

Sachari nodded slowly as she took in this information. “Anything else?” The smuggler shook his head for “no,” so the feline decided she ought to take her leave now before the parrot decided to make things more complicated or something.

Not to mention the sooner she got those Leviathan Souls, the sooner she could find Azimuth and find out just _what_ was going on.

* * *

_Maktar Nation Arena…_

Ratchet, Clank, and Talwyn finally made it across the finishing point, and the audience practically roared. Ratchet let out a small hiss, glaring at the people in the stands. Them cheering for this… it made the Lombax feel very unsettled. He wasn’t sure exactly why, but it did. Maybe if he talked to Clank about it, when this was over…

Ratchet and Talwyn stepped onto the Tele-Pad, which was no doubt going to send them back to the main arena for the final around. “Well, whaddya know! They _survived_ the death course!!” the announcer shouted into his mike. “Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for- _CHAINBLADE_ AND THE _B2 BRAWLER!!”_

The three contenders were then teleported back into the main arena. Up on the platforms above, at the opposite ends of the arena, stood Chainblade and the B2 Brawler themselves. Chainblade was sent down first. The hulking mass of green muscle covered in massive pieces of armour leapt from his platform and landed on the floor below, his giant feet leaving a huge dent in the metal.

The announcer sighed into his microphone and said, “Will somebody find Igor and tell him to order a new central platform for the arena, please? Chainblade just crushed the current one… _again._ Thank you.”

Talwyn was the first to take a shot at the culprit himself, her Megarocket Cannon aimed directly at Chainblade’s face. The missile struck him in the aforementioned area, causing his flesh and eye heavy damage. But the warrior wasn’t down and out just yet. An angry roar erupted from his chest, very nearly deafening Ratchet and possibly every other person present (both contender and audience member, regardless of whether they were organic or robotic). Chainblade jumped up several feet, and the thrusters installed in his boots kicked on. The reptile yanked his swords out of the two sheathes on his back and, without further ado, swung one of the blades down towards his enemies.

Ratchet and Talwyn barely managed to jump out of the way as the blade pretty much lived up its owner’s name, and extended itself forward to strike. Except the only thing it hit was the floor. Ratchet tele-equipped his Enforcer and pointed it at the warrior, pulling the trigger. The missile struck Chainblade’s sword, sending it flying out of its owner’s hand and into one of the arena’s giant screens.

The announcer then declared, “It’s like watching a train wreck! Wow!! And will someone also please tell Igor to order a new Holo-Net screen?”

Chainblade roared and turned away from the contenders, focusing on trying to pull his sword out of the destroyed Holo-Net screen. And his back was turned towards them. Ratchet aimed his Enforcer again, this time at Chainblade himself and pulled the trigger. Again. And again. And again. Talwyn joined in with her Megarocket Cannon, adding to the carnage. Missile after missile hit the reptile directly in the back, ripping through Chainblade’s armour and into his flesh. Smoldering scorch marks were left behind in the missiles’ wake.

Chainblade whipped about, turning his glare back on the two tiny contenders who have caused him so much pain in just a couple of minutes. He roared at them again, and raised his sword to strike. Ratchet and Talwyn continued to bombard the warrior with their respective weapons, each missile tearing his chest armour to shreds. Chainblade started to sway from side to side as his giant sword fell from his hand to the floor with a loud _clunk_. The alien then collapsed onto his side, down and out.

“Wow! They _beat_ Chainblade, folks!! Somebody get him on a stretcher or something will you and get a med team in Sector 6T stat!” After barking these orders, the announcer then turned his attention back to the arena. “I’ve never seen anything like it, folks- now, for the grand finale of the finale… the _B2 BRAWLEEEERRRRRRR!!!”_

It was now official- Ratchet _hated_ arenas.

* * *

_Stratus City’s city-to-planet Transit- Kortog’s Surface…_

Sachari got off of the transit shuttle, her boots sinking into the sand slightly. Her eyes took in the wide expanse rolling out before her, the dunes on her right only being broken by some jagged rocks here and there poking out of the sand and striking the sky. On her left, there were some of those same rocks as well as ancient stone ruins, most of which had collapsed from centuries of erosion. The only really intact piece of architecture was a tall spire about ten feet away. The runes carved into it had long since faded, however, and whatever message was once provided had been lost. Sachari turned back around as the transit ship flew away, headed back to Stratus City. The next one would be back in an hour, if what Arcandor had said was accurate. Beyond where the shuttle had been parked just a moment earlier, she could see three of the Leviathan Soul crystals that the smuggler had spoken of. Next to them, there were two suspicious looking piles of debris.

No doubt some Desert Dune Beholders were hiding underneath, in wait.

Sachari tele-equipped her new Constructo Pistol (as much as she loved her Versa-Mallet, she couldn’t use it for _everything_ ) and looked at Scrap, who looked back at her, head tilted. “Ready to kick some desert predator butt?” The Lombax asked her robotic companion.

Scrap chirped happily in response, her zapper coming out of the hole in her head. Sachari walked up to the piles of debris. Both rumbled ominously as the pieces of rock and fossilized wood fell away, revealing the two Desert Dune Beholders underneath. The predators in question rose up into the air, levitating above the sand- which was very unsettling to the Lombax, seeing as the creatures didn’t even have _wings_. The fact that both predators had only one eye each was also somewhat discomforting.

Sachari lifted her Constructo Pistol, aimed at one of the Beholders, and pulled the trigger. Bits of shell broke and flew off as the rounds struck its carapace. The other Beholder roared, and from its giant pink eye a beam of lightning struck the sand a ways away from the feline. The aforementioned beam quickly raced towards her, and Sachari barely managed to leap out of the way before it could hit her. The Lombax then whipped back around to face the two predators, her weapon at the ready. Scrap aimed her zapper at the Beholder who shot at Sachari and fired. Evidently what was probably the Beholder’s greatest strength was also its weakness- the creature in question shrieked in pain as the electricity from Scrap’s zapper ran through its body. The predator plummeted into the sand below, having been put out of commission.

“You wanna go next?” Sachari asked the other Beholder, who was not looking all too happy at the moment. Which was unsurprising, considering its buddy just got electrocuted. The Beholder snarled, and Sachari took that as her answer. “Okay- if you’re so sure that you want to… Scrap, zap time!”

Scrap took aim and fired. The Beholder suffered the same fate as its predecessor, and within seconds had collapsed onto the sand in a heap. Sachari walked past the two downed Beholders and approached the closest crystal. It was a struggle to pry it out of the twisted rock structure it was housed in, but within a moment or two, the feline had the crystal in her grasp.

 _“Good show,”_ Orvus commented, his voice sounding like it had more energy to it than earlier. _“Good show- I only wish I had some tea and popcorn…”_

 _“Did you get some rest like I told you to?”_ Sachari asked him.

 _“Indeed I did! And what a wonderful rest it was- I feel much better now…”_ Orvus trailed off uncertainly.

_“Orvus? Is something wrong?”_

_“Off a little to the right- do you see something?”_

Sachari listened to the Zoni’s words looked slightly to the right. In the distance, if she squinted her eyes just enough, the feline could see what looked like a structure of some kind. But she couldn’t quite make out what it was from here. She would have to get closer. So, after prying the remaining two crystals from their homes and then uploading them to her Quick-Select (trying to fight off more of those Beholders _and_ carrying the crystals at the same time would be suicidal, after all), the Lombax decided to head over to that structure and take a closer look at it.

It would be a while yet before the sun set, so she had time to investigate.

* * *

_Maktar Arena…_

The B2 Brawler was even more difficult to fight than Chainblade, and Ratchet and Talwyn wound up destroying another one of the arena’s giant screens, an air filter on the wall, and the announcer’s coffee maker (a stray missile from Ratchet’s Enforcer barely missed the announcer himself- who was up in a box-like structure with a glass window overlooking the arena- and instead struck the coffee machine to his right).

The announcer was more than happy to give them the Infiltrator and then have security kick them out of the arena. “And STAY OUT!!” the Agorian security guard snarled as she shoved them out out of the arena exit. Ratchet glared back at the two guards as they turned around and headed back into the arena.

Clank clambered off of the Lombax’s back, blinking as he watched the giant door slide shut behind the guards. Ratchet looked down at the Infiltrator resting in his gloved hands. “At least we got what we came for,” the feline said.

Talwyn nodded in response and started to walk back to where they landed their ships. Ratchet and Clank followed after her. The former teleported the Infiltrator into his Quick Select as they crossed the ramp leading up to their ships. At the top, Ratchet and Clank’s ship could be seen along with Talwyn’s- evidently Cronk succeeded in his venture to disable the Thugs-4-Less jamming array. Cronk himself was standing next to Talwyn’s ship, the hood of it popped open, and a plumbing wrench in his hand.

“How’d it go, Cronk?” Talwyn asked once the three of them got closer.

Cronk yelped, nearly dropping the wrench in his hands. Once he realised that it was just Talwyn and the others, he relaxed. “It was… _horrible._ There were Chickenbots _everywhere! EVERYWHERE_ I tell you!! But I did take out the jamming array…” He pointed his wrench towards what appeared to be a giant debris field off in the distance.

The communications array inside Ratchet and Clank’s ship started to beep.

“We should take that,” Clank told Talwyn and Cronk. He and Ratchet approached their ship and opened up the cockpit. After clambering inside, Ratchet answered the call.

Elaris’ face fizzled into view on the screen. It looked as though she was in her ship at the moment. “Hey guys! So I got us full jurisdiction from the Bogon authorities- apparently they’ve been trying to find any dirt on Megacorp for the past six months, and saw this as an opportunity to do so. The Bogon Protection Force is sending one of their commandos to meet you on Todano- their codename is ‘Shadow Dude’ apparently, of all things- in order to help with the investigation. I’m headed there now too. Don’t worry, I asked Angela to cover for me!” She gave the duo a smile and went on, “I’ll send you the coordinates for the location where we’ll all meet up.”

“Thanks, Elaris,” Ratchet replied, smiling back at her a little dreamily.

“I’ll see you soon, okay?” The Elkai had raised an eyebrow at the Lombax’s odd expression and asked, “You alright there, Ratchet?”

“He is suffering from some indigestion at the moment,” Clank quickly told her. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Alright.” After saying goodbye, she ended the transmission.

Ratchet turned his head to look at Clank, now mirroring Elaris’ earlier expression in raising an eyebrow. “‘Indigestion??’ Are you serious?”

“I assumed you would want to inform Elaris of your attraction towards her properly,” Clank explained, amusement apparent in his voice. Ratchet just rolled his eyes and looked over at Talwyn and Cronk.

“Elaris says she got us full jurisdiction, and that the Bogon Protection Force is sending a commando to meet up with us on Todano. Elaris is headed there herself too. I’ve got the coordinates.”

Talwyn nodded and replied, “Alright, send them to me, and then we can get off this station.”

* * *

_Kortog’s Surface…_

Sachari approached the structure. As she continued to get closer to it, its nature soon became much more apparent. Evidently it was the remains of an old temple that had been carved into a cave. The structure itself was still holding up, but the runes carved into its stone were faint, barely visible to the naked eye. The columns carved into the cave were cracked and eroded from centuries of being attacked by wind-blown sand. The Lombax stopped at the mouth of the cave, a heavy frown on her face. Scrap chirped in puzzlement, looking at the feline, then at the cave, and then back at her again.

 _“Should I go in?”_ Sachari asked Orvus.

 _“The choice is up to you,”_ Orvus told her. _“I am simply along for the ride.”_

 _“Right, right…”_ Sachari started walking again, shivering as the cave’s shadow washed over her. Scrap’s giant, luminous eyes brightened up considerably- allowing both her and Sachari to see. _“I’ve been wondering… and I’ve been debating whether or not to ask you this at all-”_

 _“You wish to know if the Zoni and I have anything to do with the temporal abnormalities affecting the Polaris and Bogon galaxies?”_ Orvus interrupted. _“This type of event is quite natural, and it happens once every one thousand years… but for it to be occurring_ now _is very unusual. This event shouldn’t take place for another four hundred years!”_

_“So someone’s doing this on purpose?”_

_“Doubtful. More likely these anomalies are the side effects of someone misusing… a greater power.”_

Sachari paused her trek down the cave tunnel. _“You mean the Time Keeper, don’t you??”_

_“Indeed I do.”_

_“But Elaris said that the source of the anomalies were in the Forbidden Expanse-“_

Orvus let out a sigh- or whatever the telepathic equivalent was. _“That is because the Great Clock- or ‘Time Keeper’, as you put it-_ is _in the Expanse.”_

_“And you didn’t think I needed to know this when I spoke to Em’al earlier?!”_

_“You didn’t ask.”_

Which was true. She didn’t ask.

 _“Look, we’ll sort this out when we get back to the ship- let’s just focus on what’s in this cave for right now,”_ Sachari told him, annoyed at both him and herself now. It was her own fault for not asking, but it was also Orvus’ for not saying anything until prompted in the first place. Then again, she couldn’t fault him for that. The Zoni were hiding out at the Clock for a reason, after all. Not just from the Red Death, but- if she took into account what Orvus had just implied- also to protect the Clock from those who would abuse its power. Whatever power that may be. It was only natural for him to be a bit hesitant to give out information about it.

Sachari shook her head and told herself to focus. If there was anything useful in this cave, she was going to find it.

And hopefully not set off any hidden death traps in the process.


	7. VII

_Kortog’s Surface… inside the mysterious temple…_

The tunnel opened up into a wide chamber, and Scrap’s optics brightened up further. Sachari started looking around, studying the ancient symbols scrawled across the walls. Unlike the runes outside the temple/cave, these were not touched by erosion and were therefore legible. Not that it mattered- she couldn’t read the language, let alone tell _what_ language it was.

_“Say, Orvus- don’t suppose you can make out any of this?”_

_“Hmm… it appears that these carvings are in one of the Lost Languages…”_

_“‘Lost Languages?’”_ Sachari repeated as she approached one of the walls, her gloved hand reaching up and brushing the stone gently. _“Well? Are you just gonna leave me hanging with that, or are you gonna explain??”_

_“The ‘Lost Languages’ are a series of languages originating from a planet on the farthest reaches of this galaxy. Planet Magnus.”_

_“So what, you’re saying this is some kind of an ancient Tharpod language?”_

_“No, no, no- the Tharpods, contrary to popular belief, are not native to the planet Magnus. There was another race that lived there, thousands of years ago. They had just become a space-faring race- they had never gone beyond their own solar system, due to how primitive their technology was then,”_ Orvus explained. “ _But they were advancing quickly… far too quickly for their own good. Not just in the space-faring department. They were also experimenting in genetics… and they created something horrible…”_

 _“The Red Death?”_ Sachari asked.

_“Yes. The disease ravaged the planet, destroying all life on it. A few uninfected individuals were able to escape, and were rescued shortly thereafter by none other than the Zoni and I. We were on our way to the planet to extinguish the Red Death when we encountered the vessels. I left behind some of the Zoni to help them reach Igliak for sanctuary. The rest of the Zoni and I then resumed our venture to Magnus, and we destroyed the Red Death. Or so we thought.”_

_“How’d you learn that it wasn’t destroyed?”_

_“We used IRIS to monitor the time stream for any potential threats to the Great Clock. That is how we learned that the Red Death was still on Magnus…”_

_“Why didn’t you try to destroy it again?”_ Sachari asked.

 _“IRIS,”_ Orvus said. _“She told me that the results would be catastrophic if we intervened directly. So she advised us to contact the Lombaxes and have them hide the Dimensionator. Without the Dimensionator, the Red Death would be unable to attack the universe beyond the closest three galaxies. At least for a time.”_

_“Polaris, Bogon, and Solana…”_

_“Precisely. We constructed a device on the Great Clock to monitor the Red Death’s state specifically while we tried to find a way to destroy it for good- for the past few thousand years, it has been dormant. But… that appears to have changed in recent years. It is waking up, little by little, and soon it will resume its conquest again. And by then I fear it might be too late to stop it.”_ Orvus let out some kind of strangled cry (or the telepathic equivalent), startling Sachari. The Lombax stiffened as she felt the waves of pain rolling off of the Zoni’s consciousness.

“Orvus?” Sachari addressed, too caught up in her fear and concern to notice that she had spoken aloud. Scrap chirruped in confusion, but the feline didn’t appear to take notice. _“What’s happening? And don’t say you’re fine, cause I can tell you’re definitely NOT fine.”_

_“I remember now… what happened to me, I-”_

Sachari suddenly felt dizzy as a fuzzy rush of memories- Orvus’ memories of his capture- crashed into her consciousness. She stumbled towards the wall, reaching her hand out for support. Her hand pressed against the wall, and the tile it was on sunk into the wall. By the time the Lombax realised what had happened, it was too late- the trap door had opened up underneath her and Scrap, sending them both tumbling down the shaft’s incline. “Ow, ow, OW!! I- _oof!_ \- hate- _owwch!_ \- stupid- _ow, ow, ow!_ \- traps!!” She flopped face-first into the sand at the bottom, and Scrap landed on top of her, feet-first and completely unscathed. The little bot hopped off Sachari as the latter pressed her hands into the ground and lifted her upper half up. She raised her head and looked on ahead, seeing that they had apparently wound up in another chamber. At least they weren’t dead.

Yet.

“Nefarious,” Sachari muttered to herself as Orvus’ memory flashed in her mind. “So he captured you.”

 _“Y-yes,”_ Orvus replied, his voice very weak.

_“Orvus?”_

_“I’m not… I am not feeling all that well…”_ He paused, shuddering in pain. _“That rush of memories… it was very unexpected… but I will be fine.”_

Sachari allowed Scrap to crawl back onto her arm as she slowly got back onto her feet. _“Are you sure? Your pain… I can feel it too, and-”_

 _“I will be fine,”_ Orvus repeated calmly. _“Do not worry about me.”_

Sachari sighed, shaking her head. _“Why are we even here to begin with? I came to the surface for the Leviathan Souls, not this deathtrap of a temple.”_

 _“In case you do not remember, I did say the choice of entering this temple was up to you. I do not see how you could have possibly done so without it being of your own accord… unless… unless perhaps it had to do with my own curiosity as to the nature of this temple- we are sharing the same body, after all. It would make sense that some degree of entanglement occurred when I entered your body,”_ Orvus explained.

 _“Wait- entanglement?? What?!_ What _are you talking about!?!?”_

 _“Neurological entanglement,”_ Orvus told her. _“How do you think we are able to communicate? We are able to do so because we are currently sharing the same brain. Because of this, my mind has been partially merged with yours. I can feel what you feel and vice versa. My theory is that my subconscious desire to investigate the temple is what influenced you to do just that. However, it is clear our minds are not_ completely _merged with one another, otherwise our conscious thoughts and desires would be indistinguishable from one another.”_

 _“This… isn’t gonna be permanent is it?”_ Sachari asked. _“You in my head, I mean-”_

_“I find that doubtful- once we find a way to transfer my consciousness to something else, there should not be any trouble. There may be some temporary residual effects, such as slight changes in personality and daily habits. But they will eventually fade, given time.”_

_“Let’s hope you’re right about that…”_ Sachari started heading down the stone corridor ahead.

* * *

_Planet Todano…_

As Ratchet settled his ship on the landing platform and looked out of the cockpit window, he couldn’t help but be enamoured by the scenery. Vivid green grass, bright orange-leafed trees, really weirdly-coloured squirrels… The Lombax shut off his engine and opened the window, allowing both him and Clank to hop out of the ship. As soon as the feline’s feet hit the platform, he found himself pulled into a tight hug by none other than Elaris. “Ratchet!” she greeted happily, her arms almost crushing his ribcage.

“Elaris- I- I can’t _breathe-”_

“Oh- sorry!” Elaris released the poor Lombax from her arms’ death grip, allowing him to gasp for air. “I’m just really happy to see you guys again.” She gave Clank a hug now too, this time being careful not to squish him like she did Ratchet. After releasing the little robot from her embrace, she stood up and turned to face Talwyn and Cronk. She was visibly startled upon seeing the former, but she maintained her composure. “So, you must be Talwyn Apogee. And you must be Cronk. It’s a pleasure to meet both of you. I just wish it was under other circumstances.”

“Mhmm,” was Talwyn’s only response.

“Now if only half the young’uns I meet were as polite and respectful of their elders as you,” Cronk greeted. “I’m guessin’ that ya must be the Elaris girl this one-” he gestured to Ratchet for reference- “wouldn’t shut up about.”

Ratchet facepalmed. “Can we _please_ stay on topic for more than five minutes? Please??”

Before anyone else could say anything, a Rilgarian in a Bogon commando uniform walked up to them from where he’d landed his ship. “Heya, dudes! Your hero Shadow Dude has arrived!” Ratchet instantly cringed upon hearing his voice. The Lombax turned his head to look at the reptile in question and facepalmed again.

“We’re _toast,”_ the feline muttered.

“Skidd McMarx?!” Talwyn exclaimed. _“You’re_ the commando who’s supposed to be- I- I don’t believe this-”

“The codename’s _Shadow Dude_ , bruh,” Skidd corrected, though he didn’t appear offended- or even remotely annoyed at the usage of his real name. “And yup! Hoverboard racin’ is fun and all, but outside the racin’ season and stuff, I gotta make money somehow. So I decided I’d help people, like my fans, so I joined the Bogon Protection Force’s Commando Division! Best decision I ever made in my life! Pretty sweet huh?”

“Uh, yeah…” Ratchet crossed his arms and regarded Skidd with a raised eyebrow. Well, if the guy managed to survive _this_ long as a part-time commando, then he must have _some_ skills outside of hoverboard racing.

At least, the Lombax desperately hoped he did. For all their sake.

“Alright, so first thing’s first, we need to make a plan as to how to break into the facility,” Elaris spoke up. “One of us should scout it out, and see what’s the situation in terms of the outer defenses. Then we’ll have a better idea of what we’re dealing with in that.”

“I can do that,” Cronk offered. “I may be old, but I still have a durn good memory.”

“And _I_ can go with him,” Talwyn added. “Someone needs to watch his back. Might as well be me.”

“What about the inner defenses?” Ratchet asked. “I mean, we could try straight up storming the place, but I don’t see how that’ll end without at least one of us getting killed.”

“The main Megacorp factory is surrounded by several smaller and probably less secure ones,” Talwyn replied. “Their computers are all connected in a network. While normally we wouldn’t be able to access information about the central factory, because it usually works the other way around, if the Infiltrator were to be used to hack it, then we might be able to get access to that information. But while the smaller factories might be less secure, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.”

“No problem,” Ratchet declared. He looked down at Clank and asked, “Whaddya say, Clank? You and I go break into one of those factories?”

“If the others are in agreement that this is the best course of action,” Clank spoke, “then yes.”

The rest of the group murmured in agreement.

“Can I come with you guys?” Skidd tele-equipped an Alpha Disruptor. “I’ve been itchin’ to test this baby out for a couple weeks now!”

“He should go with you two,” Elaris told Ratchet and Clank. The former gave her a _Does he_ have _to?_ look, and she nodded, her stern expression unwavering.

“Fine,” Ratchet muttered.

“I’ll stay here in the meantime and see if I can find a way to catch any stray Megacorp transmissions,” Elaris explained. “Any questions?”

Everyone shook their heads no. “Stay safe, Elaris,” Ratchet told her, a small smile on his face.

“You too,” Elaris replied, smiling back at him.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

As Sachari walked down the sandy corridor, heading deeper and deeper into the temple, the whispers plaguing her head became louder. When she first started hearing them, she asked Orvus what they were, and he explained that what they were “voices of both the past and future.”

 _“When we first landed on the planet’s surface, I was not certain if what I sensed from the temple was real, or if it was simply a side effect of being in an organic lifeform’s head,”_ Orvus had told her. _“Now I know it was real. It appears that this temple was built around a conjunction of time and space. Intriguing… you see, in normal space, most life in this universe is able to move freely in all three dimensions of space, but can only move forward in time-_ never _any other direction. But inside, say, a black hole, the roles of time and space are essentially swapped.”_

 _“So you can move freely through time, but in terms of space, you stay in the same place?”_ Sachari asked.

_“Exactly! Now, in a black hole, obviously you would not survive the extreme conditions it would put on your body, but in a carefully created and controlled artificial temporal anomaly, that can change. One would be able to travel through time without being harmed. The problem is keeping the anomaly from destabilising… I wonder… how the conjunction this temple was built around has not disintegrated with no one here to maintain it.”_

_“Guess we’ll just have to find out.”_

It wasn’t long before Sachari reached a massive set of stone double doors inlaid with carvings in one of the Lost Languages. She reached out to touch the closest door, and it disappeared in a flash of golden light. “Whoa-” And beyond it lay a small, somewhat unimpressive chamber. The walls and ceiling looked pretty much the same as the rest of the temple, and the floor was simply sand. In the centre of the room, however, sat a stone pedestal with a yellow, brilliant-cut gemstone on a small metal stand at the top of the aforementioned pedestal. It almost looked as if the gem was… glowing?

 _“Hmm… it appears that this gemstone_ is _the conjunction…”_ Orvus paused. _“But… how could anyone create something with a power of this magnitude and keep it hidden so well from not only the inhabitants of this world, but even from myself and the rest of the Zoni? Surely_ someone _would have found this place long before we arrived…”_

Sachari didn’t answer, instead approaching the pedestal cautiously. “Any traps, Scrap? I don’t wanna set off anything and get us all killed just from touching this thing…”

An antenna popped out of the hole in Scrap’s head and from the tiny bulb at the tip a cone of red light appeared, washing over the pedestal’s surface. The bot slowly sweeped the cone across the room, carefully examining and triple checking the readings she received. Once she was finished, the bulb on her antenna clicked off, and the antenna itself retreated back inside her carapace. Scrap chirped happily, and so Sachari decided to take a chance. She reached her hand towards the gem and shivered as her fingers brushed its shiny surface. A strong tingling sensation travelled through her glove to her hand, and ended at her wrist. Other than that, the gemstone did not seem to have an effect on her.

But it did have an effect on the temple itself: the walls started to glow a bright gold, almost blinding the Lombax. She stumbled backwards, covering her eyes with her free hand to protect them. “Whoa! What the _heck-”_ As quickly as the light intensified, it vanished- along with the temple itself, leaving Sachari and Scrap back in the desert where they first started. “-… is… going on…??” The feline whipped her head around in shock, looking around for any sign of the temple’s presence. There was none.

In fact, it was almost as if it had never been there in the first place.

Scrap beeped in confusion, and hopped down onto the ground, scanning the ground where the temple had been just seconds ago. _“What the heck was_ that??” Sachari asked Orvus.

 _“The gemstone in your hand- it almost feels as if… the energy inside,”_ Orvus spoke hesitantly, trying to find the right words. _“It does not belong here.”_

 _“That… really doesn’t explain what just happened,”_ Sachari told him.

 _“Actually, it does,”_ Orvus replied, now sounding more sure of himself. _“Just as that gemstone does not belong in this reality, that temple did not belong here. By removing the stone from the pedestal, you also removed the only thing keeping the temple here. You cancelled it out from this universe- similar to how one can cancel a variable from an algebraic equation, if the conditions are just right.”_

 _“Then does that mean I… I_ destroyed _it?!”_

 _“What- no, no, no! I believe that by removing the gemstone, you simply returned the temple to the reality it originally came from. How it and the stone_ arrived _here, however, is a mystery to me.”_

 _“Well, I say we get back to the Leviathan Souls and try to figure this out later,”_ Sachari said, teleporting the mysterious gemstone into her Quick Select. _“The universe has this funny way of keeping things a secret until it gets bored.”_

 _“Ah, yes.”_ Orvus chuckled at her remark. _“I’ve noticed- it has a wonderful sense of humour, really.”_ Sachari shrugged, and reached her arm out to Scrap so the bot could hop on and scurry back onto her shoulder. In all honesty, the feline could beg to differ. But they had more important things to worry about. And who knows?

Maybe this gemstone will come in handy someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, I feel kinda ehh about this chapter. But I just... I really had to get it over with. Hopefully from this point forward, this fic won't give me so much trouble. 
> 
> Anyways, I'll see you all next chapter!


	8. Interlude, Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this interlude takes place during the two main plots of this fic, and is going to be broken up into parts that will be sprinkled throughout the remainder of this fic before leading into the interlude story that will come once this whole fic is finished. This means that in the next chapter, we'll be returning to the main plots of this story and only occasionally come back to this new plotline, which as I said previously will eventually lead into the interlude fic. That interlude fic is going to be separate from this one, and take place _between_ this fic and the next one- _Deja Q All Over Again, or Survival of The Fittest_.
> 
> Uhh, hopefully all of that made sense... if not, and you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments section and I'll get back to you when I can.

_Back on Planet Quantos…_

Em’al took a step back and took in the sight of his and Alpheus’ handiwork. While they were still far from finished in repairing all the damage done to this particular home, they were making good progress. While the Fongoids’ disdain for technology did slow things down a _lot,_ they still had a wide range of non-technological tools available- not to mention the Fongoids were extremely skilled at building things.

Still, they had a very long ways to go.

But for now, it was time to rest, as the sun was currently setting, and trying to repair a damaged building in the dark wasn’t exactly the best idea. Especially if one wanted to keep their head intact. So, while there was still daylight, everyone set up small tents to sleep in for that night. Before Em’al could retire to his own tent, however, Alpheus told him that they had something to show him.

Alpheus pulled a small cloth bag off their belt and opened it. They reached in and pulled out a mixed cut gemstone that was a dark shade of blue, and appeared to be glowing faintly in the exponentially dimming light of the setting sun. “I want to try something- I’m not sure if it will work, but…”

“But…?” Em’al looked down at the gem in Alpheus’ hands, then back at the Fongoid themself. The Aez’ear could feel the tingle of energy coming from the stone, despite standing about a foot away. It was a little disorienting.

“Touch it,” Alpheus told him. “If I’m right- _neh!-_ then… all this was _supposed_ to happen.”

Em’al’s eyes flicked back down at the gemstone cautiously. He decided if the Fongoids really did want to do anything malicious, they would have done so already- so he reached out and let his fingers brush the cool surface of the stone. The gem’s glow brightened considerably- not to the point of blinding him and Alpheus, but it was definitely enough to be noticed.

“Th- the stone- it responds to you!” Alpheus looked up at Em’al, their expression now filled with puzzlement… and fear? “We should sit down- it’ll take some time to explain everything.” So the Fongoid led Em’al to a nearby stone bench that had been blackened due to the destruction Vorselon and his troopers had caused.

The two of them sat down, and Alpheus began to speak. “Long ago, on a planet very far from this system- you would know it as Magnus, though there was a time it had a different name- shards of multi-coloured gemstones rained down from a massive comet in the sky. The Surinox Comet! Only a select few of the shards survived the journey- the rest exploded in the sky mid-descent… we don’t- _neh!_ \- know why. But thirteen Shards survived the trip. The comet vanished without a trace, as if it had never been there in the first place. And the ones ruling over planet’s the inhabitants- who were not the Tharpods, as this was thousands of years before they settled there, but rather a much more primitive and destructive species- of Magnus covered it up, hoping to harness the Shards’ power for themselves. That… _that_ is what led them to their own downfall.

“We the Fongoids weren’t the only ones to tear a hole in the space-time continuum, though we were the ones to cause the most damage. That was before the Surinox Shards- never mind, that’s a- _neh!-_ story for another time. I’m getting off-track. The inhabitants of Magnus weren’t able to control the power of the Shards, and ripped a massive tear in the universe. In the process, they created something horrible. Because they were using the energy from the Surinox Shards to manipulate their own genome, they unleashed a plague that destroyed their whole planet. They had barely enough time to get those who were not infected off-world.

“The Zoni were able to put a stop to the plague, and they separated the Surinox Shards, sending them to different worlds, and locking them away in the pocket dimensions located on those worlds. Except for this one. However, these Surinox Shards are… fickle things when it comes to the mind.”

Em’al rubbed his chin in thought as he studied the Surinox Shard in Alpheus’ hands. Something clicked in his mind. At the same moment, the Shard flashed briefly before returning to its normal dim glow. “It’s the same reason that the Surinox Comet vanished. They can’t exist in our universe under normal conditions because they’re not actually _physical_ objects- we just perceive them as such because there’s no other way to do so due to _our_ universe’s laws of physics. So all possibilities of ‘non-existence’ have to be removed first. But because the Shards are in a constant state of quantum flux, so when they don’t exist in our universe, any and all knowledge of them eventually fades, even written records… as if they were never even there.” He paused. “Wait, how did- I didn’t even know this a second ago!”

“As I said,” Alpheus replied, “the Surinox Shard responds to you. Some of the Shard’s powers are more easily accessible than others. This Shard can grant knowledge to those it connects to. It has other powers, yes, but they require a greater understanding in order to be used. At least, that’s what- _neh!_ \- Orvus told us when he put it under our care.”

“And I’m guessing that since the Surinox Shards aren’t from our universe,” Em’al spoke, “the Zoni started to lose their knowledge of them.”

“Exactly. That’s why this Shard was the only one that wasn’t sealed away,” Alpheus said. “Orvus entrusted it to us, and told us that IRIS anticipated that we would need it someday. He explained that she said it had to be _here,_ in order for the right sequence of events to take place… or all would be lost.”

Em’al rubbed his forehead with his fingers, trying to wrap his mind around all this. He was beginning to have the distinct feeling that there was something… _bigger_ at play here. Whether it was a gut feeling or the Surinox Shard playing tricks on him, he had no clue at this point. “You said there were other Surinox Shards, right? So do they all have the same powers, or is it different with each one?”

“That part, I am afraid we don’t know,” Alpheus admitted. After a long moment of consideration, they carefully set the Surinox Shard in Em’al’s hand. “I’m not sure what is supposed to happen now- but I believe that you and your Lombax friend play a key role in what’s to come. There are others, according to another legend we keep, that will also play a role in the preservation of the universe, but… I don’t know what else I can tell you without disrupting the flow of events. The Shard will show you what you need to know.” And with that, the Fongoid stood up and walked away, now headed for their own tent- and in turn, leaving Em’al to his own devices.

The aforementioned Aez’ear stared down at the Surinox Shard in his hands, which was glowing a tad brighter now, but not passing any new knowledge onto him. Too many questions, and not enough answers. Em’al had half a mind to go after Alpheus and demand more information, but at the same time, he felt far too exhausted from all the work he and the Fongoids had done today.

He could question Alpheus more tomorrow, he supposed.

The feathered feline yawned and- after standing up and stretching for a couple of seconds- slipped into his own tent. As soon as Em’al’s head hit the pillow-like cushion on his sleeping mat, everything went black.

* * *

_The next morning…_

Em’al’s eyelids, which were feeling a bit crusty at the moment, slowly slid open. While he had been asleep, the Surinox Shard currently in his possession had deposited a great deal more information about itself and its fellow Shards. They were all interconnected, so intricately that it was almost… artificial. There was no clear line where one Shard- where one aspect of reality- began, nor any indication of where it ended. Reality was both relative and absolute. Reality was both real and an illusion. Reality existed, and at the same time, it didn’t. Space was time, and time was space- any distinction between the two was irrelevant.

The only thing that mattered was the correct set of conditions. The solution. The solution that could remove all variables that could produce the unsatisfactory set of conditions, the incorrect answers. The solution that can satisfy the equation. The solution that can make that equation _true._

 _That_ was what mattered. Not the distinction. The _solution._

Em’al groaned, his head pounding painfully as his brain tried to piece together and make sense of the ridiculously paradoxal information. So far, the only thing that Surinox Shard did was spark some freaky mix of scientific and philosophical debate in his head- something he definitely didn’t need this early in the morning. He slowly sat up, rubbing his forehead with his free hand. And then he realised he was still holding onto the stupid gem with his other hand.

As soon as the Aez’ear let go of it, he felt better. Like a weight had been lifted off his entire body. Maybe this was another reason why it became impossible to remember the Surinox Shards once separated from them. They simply were too powerful to be fully comprehended.

Too powerful.

That’s why the original inhabitants of Magnus almost completely destroyed their own race. And that was why the power had to remain hidden. But then why would Alpheus entrust _Em’al_ with the Fongoids’ Shard? They claimed that Em’al and possibly Sachari played a supposed “key role” in the near future- but was that really true? Or was the Fongoid leader hiding something? There was more that Alpheus knew, for sure. They just weren’t willing to share that information- they even said so themself.

Em’al sighed, closing his eyes and lying back down on his mat. Though the light filtering through his tent indicated that it was daylight, the Aez’ear wanted to think more first. He needed to make sense of things.

The Surinox Shards were not from this universe. They both could and could not exist. Certain conditions had to be met for them to be used. Usage of thirteen of them had the potential of planet-wide destruction. Since the Shards were already powerful enough on their own to begin with, the more Surinox Shards you have, the more power that can be harnessed.

The more power that is harnessed… the harder it is to control that power.

The harder it is to control that power, the greater the amount of destruction that could be caused when a mistake is made. What the previous users of the Surinox Shards lacked was-

Em’al sat up.

He could hear frantic shouts bouncing around outside the tent. _What’s going on??_ The Aez’ear teleported the Surinox Shard into his Quick Select. He then equipped his rifle and sprinted through his tent flap to the outside world. Several Fongoid warriors were poised in a battle stance, their spears at the ready. Out of the corner of his eye, Em’al could see Alpheus ushering the rest of the villagers into an underground tunnel below the village’s stone wall. The Aez’ear’s gaze then flicked to the threat that stood across from the Fongoid warriors.

 _Space pirates,_ Em’al realised, his blood suddenly running cold with dread.

Except that these space pirates didn’t look like they belonged to Slag’s crew. Sure enough, a tall and skinny pirate with a captain’s hat stepped forward, his sword drawn. “I am Captain Darkwater, and this be me crew!” He waved a robotic hand to the swarm of pirates standing behind him, who were all armed with blasters and cutlasses. At least five of them had Negotiators. Darkwater’s gaze then locked onto Em’al, and his eerily glowing eyes narrowed.

“And I believe _ye_ have somethin’ that belongs to _me.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, more references to the Red Death, as well as the Ratchet & Clank comics. Sorry if this chapter was confusing, but given the nature I intend for my version of the Surinox Shards, it's going to be confusing no matter what. So hopefully I explained things so that they were mostly comprehensible. 
> 
> And yeah, I've got some plans in the making for Darkwater.
> 
> This fic is probably going to be massive by the time I'm done with it, yikes...


	9. VIII

_Stratus City- Planet Kortog…_

Arcandor had not been anywhere near his ship when Sachari returned. So, after questioning several stuck-up and probably too-rich-for-their-own-good civilians, the Lombax was able to procure the location of the city’s local pub. It was a bit surprising that such a large city as this would only have _one_ bar, but she didn’t think about it too much. After all, it would make her search for Arcandor a lot faster than it would be if there was more than one. And the fact that there was only one pub in general made it that much easier to find, given the size of the alcohol-serving monstrosity.

Sachari studied the building for a long moment before actually entering. It was several floors high, and the outside was covered in neon lights that were so bright they actually hurt her eyes. The giant sign propped up above the door was even less appealing. The name of the bar, which was simply _Dan Johnson's_ , was displayed in gaudy lettering.

And the actual name of the pub was just downright confusing. What kind of name was “Dan Johnson?”

Shaking her head, the feline walked up to the entrance and was greeted by a revolving door. Great. Scrap chirped in disapproval- the bot never really liked those things either, especially considering that the first time she had to go through one, both her and Em’al gotten themselves trapped inside because the thing had gone unoiled for far too long. In other words, the door got jammed.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case with _this_ particular revolving door, and Sachari was able to enter with ease. As soon as she was inside the pub, she wanted out. The smell was downright awful, the soft blue lighting unnerving (to say the least), and the actual patrons even more unnerving.

 _“I don’t like this place one bit,”_ Sachari said, her body tensing and her fur rising slightly. _“We should make this quick so we can get outta here.”_

 _“Agreed,”_ Orvus replied. _“I will let you know if I sense anything suspicious.”_

Sachari nodded in response, then remembered that Orvus was still in her head. Thankfully, none of the patrons seemed to care. In fact, they didn’t even seem to be paying any attention to her at all. The feline approached the closest bar table and sat down on one of the stools. “I’m looking for a guy named Necromi Arcandor. Have you seen him?”

The Markazian bartender currently wiping down the table lifted his head and looked at the Lombax. His cold ice blue eyes narrowed and he growled at her threateningly, “Buzz off, kitty-kitty.”

Scrap hissed at the Markazian’s words. Sachari appeared to be unfazed, however, and merely crossed her arms as she shot back, her tone dripping with mockery, “What, are you too dumb to understand a simple question? Just _point,_ genius, and I’ll figure it out.” The Markazian was visibly startled by her retort, and he wordlessly pointed to a partially secluded table in the corner of the pub. Sachari smirked and added, “See? That wasn’t so hard now was it?” She didn’t wait for a response, instead heading over to the aforementioned table.

Sure enough, there sat Necromi Arcandor himself, gulping down a glass of amber liquid. His parrot- who might as well be _glued_ to his shoulder- squawked at the feline’s arrival. “Awk! Look! The Lombax _survived!”_

“Well, well, well!” the smuggler drawled out in greeting. He gestured to the chair across from him and said, “Feel free to sit down- have a drink or two, it’s on me.”

“Uhh, yeah- _no_ drinks for me, thank you very much.” Sachari did take the offer to sit down, however. She opened up her Quick-Select and on the table in front of her six Leviathan Soul crystals flickered into view. “Six Leviathan Soul crystals, as promised. Now it’s your turn- what’s Alister Azimuth’s current location?”

Arcandor picked up one of the crystals and examined it closely, tilting it in the dim lights of the pub. After a moment, he set it down and answered, “Last I heard, Azimuth holed himself up on a planet called Torren IV- more specifically in a place called Volgram Pass. I’ll upload the coordinates to your nav-unit. You’ll have to go through the Hollow if you want to get to Volgram Pass, though. The Vullards are friendly enough. I’m sure they’ll let you through, provided you keep that attitude of yours in check.”

“Don’t worry,” Sachari said, now smirking. “I only get like that when I’m not in the mood to take crap from jerks.”

The smuggler snorted. “I like this one. Lots of spunk. But watch your back out there, kid- the galaxy’s a dangerous place, and sometimes spunk ain’t ‘nuff to get yourself out of trouble.”

Sachari nodded, biting her lip to keep from telling him that she had been trained for battle her whole life and could take care of herself. He was right. The galaxy was a dangerous place and sometimes having a smart mouth could be more dangerous than helpful. “I’ll be careful,” she told him, standing up. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Ditto,” came the response. Arcandor wasn’t even looking at her now, as he was too busy trying to wave a waitress over- no doubt to order another drink. So the Lombax turned away and left the bar. Suddenly she was glad to be in the city again- it was certainly better than that pub. While it was still hard to breathe outside, at least it wasn't making her sick to the point of wanting to throw up.

 _“Time to get back on track,”_ Sachari said, more to herself than to Orvus.

 _“Indeed,”_ came the reply. _“And then, perhaps, we will finally have some answers.”_

* * *

_Back on Todano…_

As Ratchet, Clank, and Skidd approached the smaller factory, the Lombax couldn’t help but wonder how Talwyn could’ve possibly thought she and Cronk could have handled this on their own. Perhaps she only told them that at the time so Ratchet and Clank wouldn’t have to feel guilty if they hadn’t been able to help.

Ratchet sighed, shaking his head. He could think about this later. Right now, he and his teammates had a job to do. He motioned for Skidd to follow him, and so once they were huddled behind some boulders, studying the factory’s outer defenses from a relatively safe distance, he said, “Okay, so here’s the plan. Clank and I will go in first and take out as many of those sentry bots as we can. It’ll be your job to watch our backs and destroy any stragglers we might’ve missed. Got it?”

“Got it, dude!” Skidd answered, smirking as he tele-equipped his Alpha Disruptor. “Anythin’ for two a’ my millions of fans!”

“I’m- we’re not- ugh, never mind.” Ratchet had to refrain from rolling his eyes. He turned his head and asked Clank, “You all good there, pal?”

“Yes, I am secure,” Clank answered. “I believe we are ready to proceed.”

“Alright!” Ratchet hurtled over the top of the boulder and landed on the ground in front, equipping his Enforcer. “Time to take out the trash.” The feline bounded forward towards the factory, taking aim at the closest sentry bot- which had just caught sight of him and was glaring at him with its one red eye as it lifted its arm cannon to shoot him- and fired. The missile hit the bot, destroying it upon impact. The explosion seemed to alert the rest of the sentry bots that something was amiss and within ten seconds or so, they were swarming around the sides of the building, and they _weren’t_ happy.

It didn’t help when Skidd’s voice called out from behind Ratchet, “Hey, you guys want some ‘autographs?’” The Lombax glanced back for a second to see the Rilgarian commando blowing away some of the sentry bots. “One for you, one for you, one for you… this is a once in lifetime opportunity, dudes- you should be thankin’ me!”

Ratchet, turning away and aiming his Enforcer at another sentry, wondered if Skidd’s currently trigger-happy behaviour was really in their best interests or not. He supposed, as long as the guy made sure to shoot the sentry bots, and _not_ him and Clank, then it was fine. As long as Skidd wasn’t enjoying it _too_ much, anyway.

The feline pulled the trigger, and the bot was consumed in a fiery explosion. Time always seemed to slow down when he was fighting- courtesy of the Zoni, of course. The Lombax knew that deep down, he should be grateful. Neither he nor Veldin- heck, not even the rest of the Solana Galaxy- would be here today if the Zoni hadn’t intervened in their very… _strange_ ways.

But deep down, Ratchet felt angry at them. It wasn’t the boiling-in-a-teapot kind of rage that had fueled him during his final battle against Nefarious on Veldin. No. This anger wasn’t nearly as hot. It was more like a small, steady stream in the back of his mind- never really at the forefront of his thoughts, but… it was simply a semi-silent presence.

Ratchet had a nice, bite-sized list of things he felt anger towards the Zoni about- only coming to help when it was convenient, for example. Only coming to help when it served _their_ purpose. _Their_ needs. Maybe it was true that they _had_ to only do so at certain points, in order to ensure the best outcome for the universe. He could understand that, he supposed. It wasn’t like he could in good conscience fault them for putting the needs of the universe _first_. That didn’t stop Ratchet from wishing that they had done _more._

Even if wishing for that was futile.

_Fourteen years ago… at the Kyzil Plateau Orphanage…_

_“Pfft, look at the freak_ cry!”

_Mud caked the four year-old Lombax’s fur as he half-sat half-laid in the muck, staring up in fear at the group of bullies with his wide green eyes. Tears were slowly trickling down his mussed-up cheeks. The poor feline whimpered again, this time more quietly as he slowly tried to crawl backwards away from them. The closest bully, a burly-ish Cazar who had to be about six years old, reached down and snatched up his ankle, the older feline’s claws digging deep into the young Ratchet’s flesh. The Lombax mewled in pain, not that the other kids even seemed to care._

_“Where do ya think you’re goin’?” the Cazar hissed, a sadistic smile full spreading across his lips. “We were just starting to have fun!”_

_“I’m not having fun,” Ratchet said timidly, his voice trembling a bit. “You’re hurting me…”_

_The Cazar snorted, digging his claws deeper as he bent over and whispered, “Duh, that’s the point,_ stupid.” _His talons sunk further._

_Ratchet hissed in pain as one of the sharpened nails pierced a particularly sensitive nerve. The next thing the Lombax knew, his own claws were covered in blood, and the Cazar bully was stumbling backwards, clutching his face in pain. He could see the thin pink slits his claws had left behind on the Cazar’s snout._

_The other bullies rushed to the older feline’s aid, but he shooed them away and stood back up. He glared down at the Lombax, who was staring at his own crimson-stained talons. “You’re gonna pay for that, freak.”_

_Ratchet hissed again, this time in warning as he got to his feet and settled into a low crouch. His fearful expression had morphed into one of determination. “Then do it. Make me pay.” Before either feline could do anything, a deep “ahem” erupted from behind Ratchet._

_“It Missus Tsucol!” the bullies shrieked. “Run!” They all dispersed, scurrying away as fast as they could. Ratchet turned around to look up at the Aleeran woman, who had her arms crossed and was glaring down at the small, dirt-covered feline with a stern expression._

_“Th-they started it,” Ratchet whimpered, even though he knew it was useless. He knew exactly what was going to happen next. And just as he predicted, Missus Tsucol was dragging him off the orphanage playground and throwing him into the broom closet. Since on occasion at least one other kid would get thrown in there for “bad behaviour,” the workers had reconstructed it to have two doors, with a wooden barricade in between the two prisoners._

_And so Ratchet curled up on the floor with his back against the aforementioned wooden wall, and started sniffling._

_“H-hey,” a slightly scratchy voice called out from the other side of the barricade. “So, um… what’re you in for?”_

_“Wha… what?” Ratchet lifted his head and looked over at the wall. There was no opening from which he could see the kid on the other side, and whoever it was… he didn’t sound familiar. He must be new, the Lombax supposed._

_“Well, you have to be in here for something, right? So what’d you do? Bite the teacher’s ankle or something?”_

_The quip made Ratchet smile a little. It faded quickly as he answered, “The bullies… they were beating me up. I… my claws…”_

_There was a pause._

_“So you got thrown in here just for standing up for yourself?” the voice asked incredulously. “Geez, and I thought the people here couldn’t be any stupider. How old are you, anyway?”_

_“Four,” Ratchet told him, sitting up and tucking his knees underneath his chin before wrapping his arms and tail around his legs._

_“What a bunch of morons! When I leave this place, I’m gonna get back at them. I’ll make them pay for playing favourites and treating us all like garbage- I’ll make sure they wish they’d never been_ born!” _Ratchet looked over at the wall, his face now filled with worry and concern. The kid on the other side sounded very… bitter, to say the least. “Here’s a bit of advice:_ don’t _let_ this _get to you. Don’t let them walk all over you. Because if you don’t stand up for yourself like you did today, they’ll just keep doing it. They’ll never stop. You got that?”_

_“Yeah.” Ratchet was quiet for a long moment. Then he asked hesitantly, “So what’re you ‘in for?’”_

_“I, uhh… had a little accident in the science lab.”_

_And for the first time since his arrival here, Ratchet let out a genuine laugh. For the first time, he had a friend. A friend he could actually talk to. A real friend, not the ones he made up in his head because he was lonely all the time. A friend he desperately wanted to meet face-to-face._

_But he never did._

Ratchet shook his head of the memory as he took aim and shot down the last sentry bot. Why did that memory have to come up _now_ of all times? Still… he couldn’t help but wonder what happened to that other kid at the orphanage. The Lombax knew that the kid had to have gotten adopted before they could actually meet, but as what happened to him after… Ratchet would probably never know at this point.

By now the kid would’ve forgotten all about him anyway.

The Lombax turned to look at Skidd, who was just finishing up reloading his Alpha Disruptor. “All good there, Sk- er, ‘Shadow Dude?’”

“Yup!” Skidd wiped a smudge of dirt off the weapon and followed after Ratchet, who was now walking towards the factory entrance.

“Alright.” Ratchet smirked as he reached the factory’s front door, switching over to his brand new Gold Lavacitor. “Now let’s _really_ make some noise.”

* * *

_Khaos Sector…_

“It appears we are receiving a distress call from a nearby vessel,” Aphelion spoke up as they entered the Khaos Sector. “The ship appears to be heavily damaged and life support systems are barely operational.”

“Answer it,” Sachari told her. The comm screen in front of her fizzled to life, and the face of an injured Agorian warrior appeared. A thin blue liquid was slowly trickling down from a gash in his forehead, and several dark blue, almost black, bruises covered his head and snout.

“Starship signature… 33…71-Al- Alpha,” the Agorian slurred. “Are you reading me?”

“We hear you loud and clear,” Sachari answered. “I’m Sachari. What happened?”

“A trait… traitorous scum of a warrior decided that I knew too much, that’s what happened,” the Agorian explained, now rummaging around in his glove compartment. He pulled out a tube of Nanotech and squeezed some onto his bruises, wincing in pain from the sensation. “I was on my way there when my ship was attacked by a dishonorable wretch who goes by the name of Commander Argos.” He snorted derisively. “When I get my hands on him, I will show everyone what a _phony_ he is…”

“Aphelion’s got a kinetic tether,” Sachari spoke up. “I could probably take you to the nearest ship depot for repairs, if you want.”

The Agorian pondered her offer for a moment. “… very well. I accept your generous offer. It is not often that we Agorians receive assistance from anyone. That’s what happens when you have a bad galaxy-wide reputation. Th… thank you.” After that, he ended the transmission.

As Aphelion activated her kinetic tether, and Sachari piloted her further into the sector, scanning for any nearby ship depots, Orvus remarked, _“You continue to surprise me, Miss Cross.”_

 _“Huh?”_ Sachari’s eyebrow twitched upwards in puzzlement.

 _“Your actions just now- they were very admirable, to say the least,”_ Orvus explained. _“Despite your knowledge of the Agorians and their history, you are still assisting this warrior nonetheless.”_

 _“Well, yeah. It would be wrong of me to leave the guy there to die,”_ Sachari told him. _“That’s not how I- that’s not how the Rangers do things.”_

_“Why the self-correction?”_

_“I’m sorry, what??”_

Orvus let out an exasperated sigh. _“You had interrupted yourself mid-sentence. I am asking why.”_

 _“I… I don’t know why. I just did it,”_ Sachari replied, starting to feel annoyed with the Zoni. What point, if any, was he even trying to make??

 _“Precisely. You just ‘did it.’_ You _are helping this Agorian of your_ own _accord, and no one else’s. You did it in accordance with your own doctrine,”_ Orvus said. _“You did not do it because you are a Ranger. You did not do it because you too were raised to be an honourable warrior. You did it because you are… well, you.”_

_“When I set out on this mission, I didn’t expect to be psychologically analysed by the Zoni leader himself. Heck… there’s a lot of things I didn’t expect to happen on this mission.”_

_“And yet, they did happen.”_ Orvus chuckled in amusement, his voice bouncing off of Sachari’s thoughts and echoing. _“I suspect we will encounter many more surprises in the near future.”_ Sachari just shook her head and looked over at Scrap, who was curled up on the seat next to her, snoring away softly.

Yet another surprise of the day, as until this moment, she had no idea robots could snore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to you if you caught the She-Ra reference, lol. And the "Search for the Lost" reference too (I love Forge skdjdjdjdjdjsndnsn).
> 
> Also, while I did make a reference to a certain character from my previous work in this series _Shadow of the Robot_ , it's obviously not the same _version_ of said character, given the whole multiverse thing that went on in that fic. Kudos to you again if you figured out who said character was before reading this note (at this point, you all probably already know who it is). I have some stuff planned for both this universe's version of that character and the alternate universe version of him (and at this point, it's blatantly obvious who I'm talking about), more so for the latter.
> 
> Hopefully that made sense. If something didn't make sense (and/or you just want to know for sure who I'm yammering about), feel free to ask me in the comments section. Thanks for reading, and see you all in the next chapter!
> 
> P.S. Also, please excuse the not-so-great reference I made to a certain running gag in the R&C series.


	10. IX

_Xularev Sector…_

After towing the Agorian warrior to the space depot, he offered to pay Sachari for her assistance- she declined however, stating that she was happy to help and already had plenty of bolts. And so they had parted ways, allowing the Lombax to resume her journey to Torren IV. Within a few hours, Aphelion was entering the planet’s atmosphere, and then touching down on an old landing platform not far from where the coordinates showed the Hollow being located.

“Great,” Sachari muttered as she looked out the cockpit window at the scenery unfolding before her. _“Another_ desert. This time with _cliffs.”_

 _“Deserts have their own charms,”_ Orvus said gently. _“You just need to know where to look and what to look for.”_

 _“I was raised on a tundra,”_ Sachari told him. _“I’m used to freezing my butt off, not_ sweating _it off. And at least any snow you get stuck in your clothes melts. Sand, on the other hand, is clingy.”_

Orvus snorted in amusement at her words. _“Oh, Miss Cross. I am sure you will figure it out on your own soon enough.”_

_“… figure what out?”_

_“That is for me to know, and you to find out.”_

Sachari shook her head, though she couldn’t keep the smile off her face for very long. She looked over at Scrap and gently nudged her awake with one hand. The bot chirped, and lifted her head to look at the feline, blinking slowly. “C’mon,” Sachari told her. “It’s time to track down Azimuth.”

Aphelion opened up her cockpit, allowing her passengers to hop out. As Scrap scurried onto Sachari’s shoulder, the sentient ship added, “Safe journey, both of you. I hope you will be able to find him.”

Sachari nodded and smiled at Aphelion, giving her a gentle pat on the wing. “Thanks Aphelion. We’ll be back soon!” And with that having been said, the Lombax started trudging down the beaten path ahead. The canyon was massive, with rock walls towering hundreds of feet high. Ancient structures lined the sides of these walls, most likely from an old city long-abandoned. There was very little in terms of plant life- a shrub there, a cactus there. But that, and some yellowing dry grass was it. The sky was a bright blue, with the sun shining high- it would stay daylight for some time. Sachari felt the fur on her neck raise slightly when her eyes locked onto a pile of metal debris a few feet away, just on the edge of the trail. She tele-equipped her Versa Mallet as the pile of junk shifted, loud screeching noises emanating from its rusty form as its limbs and other parts- such as its head- clicked into place.

 _“A Thrasher,”_ Orvus observed, his voice tinged with astonishment. _“I have not seen one of them for… a_ very _long time.”_

The Thrasher charged towards Sachari, its massive talons extended with the intention of slashing her. The feline quickly brought her mallet to the ground, sending an electrical shockwave rippling through the dirt towards the Thrasher, electrocuting it and shorting out its circuitry instantly. The robot crashed to the ground, sparking dangerously. Sachari made sure to steer clear of the Thrasher’s remains as she jogged past.

Up ahead she could see a series of old cranes holding up what appeared to be thick sheets of metal, creating a sort of path leading up to a wide cliff on the other side of the gap. She leapt onto the first sheet, making sure to land in a low crouch so the momentum of landing wouldn’t cause her to hurtle off the edge. Scrap chirped nervously, tightening her tiny claws’ grip on the Lombax’s shoulder.

The crane creaked as the impact of Sachari’s landing caused the metal sheet to swing a little.

Sachari stayed low.

The sheet eventually stopped moving, and so the feline slowly made her way closer to the edge. And then she jumped. She landed on the next sheet, keeping in a crouch as she scooted closer to the middle while the thing swung a bit.

Sachari sighed tiredly. This was going to take a while.

* * *

_Todano… back at the landing site…_

A mess of computers connected by thick, multi-coloured wires were strewn about the landing site. Atop some of these computers sat satellite dishes designed to pick up even the lowest known radio frequency in the galaxy. And in the centre of the mess, in front of one the larger computers sat Elaris herself. The Elkai turned the blue knob on the console in front of her, slowly cycling through all the frequencies one by one. So far, there was nothing but squelching static.

She stopped when something other than static finally made an appearance. On the screen in front of her, she had a perfect view of two individuals- the one on the right was clearly a Thug. The one on the left was a burly, almost feline-like alien with blue fur. Elaris didn’t recognise his species. A thin line separating the two individuals, as well as the differing backgrounds behind them, indicated that the two were in different locations.

“First Commander Evets of the Thugs-4-Less callin’-”

“Ah can see ye jus’ fine boss,” the feline alien interrupted. “No need ta-”

“Hey, did I give ya permission to interrupt?!” Evets didn’t wait for a response. “No! So shaddup and lemme talk, will ya?!?” The feline nodded in response and Evets continued, “First off, the hover bike competition on Barlow is still gonna start on schedule- we haven’t missed a single year in the past five decades, and I ain’t ‘bout to let that streak get broke. Second, the Megacorp CEO Abercrombie Fizzwidget is gonna be there to watch the show. Normally I don’t ask questions, but… I dunno. There’s somethin’ off ‘bout this guy, and I _don’t_ like it! Keep an eye on him- if he does anythin’ remotely weird and slash or suspicious, lemme know immediately!”

“Sir, yes sir!” The alien saluted him. “We won’ le’ ye down!”

“See to it that ya don’t.”

And with that, the transmission fizzled back into static. Elaris fist pumped triumphantly. “Yes! A lead!!” She dug her datapad out of the duffel bag sitting next to her feet and started researching Barlow. There was little information about the planet- it was mostly just sand and cliffs. It was previously notable for having been the original Gadgetron Headquarters about a hundred years or so ago, before HQ was moved to the planet Kalebo III in the Solana Galaxy.

Now, it was mainly known for its annual hoverbike competition, which was held in Vukovar Canyon.

Elaris set aside her datapad for the time being and resumed cycling through the transmissions. The more information she could get, the better.

* * *

_Still on Todano… in one of the secondary factories…_

“Duck!” Skidd quickly flung himself to the floor as Ratchet hurled a bomb from his Bomb Glove at the sentry bot that had been hovering behind the Rilgarian, about to shoot. The bomb blew up upon impact, taking the sentry with it.

Ratchet stood half-bent over, panting heavily. If the security in this factory was this difficult (that was putting it lightly) to deal with, then how were they supposed to handle the main factory once the time came? The Lombax shook his head. At least now they were all clear.

For the moment, anyway.

“Thanks for save, dude!” Skidd gave Ratchet a thumbs up before getting back onto his feet.

“Yeah,” Ratchet replied, finally straightening his stance. “No problem.”

Clank clambered off of Ratchet’s back and started walking around, taking care to avoid the smoldering remains of the sentry bots as his bright green optics took in their surroundings. “Interesting. It appears that this factory is in charge of manufacturing some sort of automated series of rockets…” He paused, blinking slowly as he took scans of the nearest rocket, which was sitting on one of many stands stationed around in the room. “Hmm… it appears these rockets are being loaded with several vials containing various deadly pathogens. It would seem that these rockets are being engineered as bioweapons. We are extremely lucky in that they were not damaged.”

While Clank spoke, Ratchet tele-equipped the Infiltrator and, aiming at the giant computer console sitting in the centre of the room, he pulled the trigger. A thick cord slithered out of the gadget’s barrel and plugged itself into the nearest connector on the console. The Lombax’s eyes were glued to the Infiltrator’s display, which was currently showing a bunch of binary code flashing across the screen to the point of being unreadable. The code then finally condensed into what appeared to be a small, light green ball with matching parallel lines running across it. On the front of the ball, a red coloured-node flickered into view.

Ratchet turned the knob on the side of the Infiltrator’s barrel, which caused the ball to rotate, connecting the first node to another one via a small red line. According to what the Lombax saw on the screen, there were now two available pathways. Which meant that only one of them was the correct one. He didn’t want to know what might happen if he chose wrong.

The feline took a chance, and chose the left path. So far so good. Now there were three pathways. He chose the middle this time. Still good. There were now two pathways again. Ratchet went right. The Infiltrator beeped loudly, and for a split second, he thought he had chosen wrong. But it turned out that was not the case, as folders no doubt containing the main Megacorp Testing Facility’s security files were now loading themselves onto the device in his hands.

“I got the files!” Ratchet announced as the Infiltrator finished downloading the data and disconnected itself from the computer.

Clank nodded in response. “Then we should leave immediately.” The robot climbed back onto his friend’s back. Meanwhile, Skidd watched them with an unreadable expression on his face.

“By the way… uhh, how’s that not at all… ya know… awkward?” Skidd asked, peeking around the corner to see if any sentry bots were waiting for them in the hallway. Thankfully, there were none.

“What’re you talking about?” Ratchet asked blankly, switching over to his Twin-Ended Omni-Wrench.

Skidd stared at him for a moment. Finally he shrugged and said, “Ehh, never mind, dude- it’s not important.” Ratchet raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say another word.

Time was of the essence, after all.

* * *

_Torren IV…_

As she and Scrap finally reached the other side of the gap, Sachari’s eyes locked onto a Vullard rummaging through a pile of junk. She approached her, and cleared her throat awkwardly, drawing the Vullard’s attention.

“My word!” the Vullard exclaimed upon seeing the feline. “A _Lombax!_ You’re the only other one aside from Alister that I’ve ever seen!! It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance!” She lifted her hand up for Sachari to take. When the Lombax did so, the Vullard shook vigorously. “My name’s Peli Kuiil! But you can call me Peli!”

“It’s nice to meet you, Peli,” Sachari replied warily. This Vullard seemed friendly enough, if a little excitable. After they shook hands, the feline went on, “I’m Sachari, and this is Scrap. You mentioned another Lombax- Alister Azimuth. I have information that he was last seen in Volgram Pass. Do you know if he’s still there?”

“Oh, yes- he is! Not exactly the friendliest of fellows, that one is. But he’s always willing to lend a hand now and then when we need it,” Peli explained. “I take it you also know the only way to access Volgram Pass is through the Hollow?”

“Yup,” Sachari answered. “Will you let me through? The situation is kinda urgent.”

“Of course! Follow me- and be careful where you step.” Peli turned away as she spoke and started heading down the path ahead of her.

 _“She seems nice,”_ Orvus observed, a slightly mischievous tone in his voice.

_“… and??”_

_“I just said. She seems nice.”_

Sachari shook her head, following after Peli. _“Yeah, okay. Whatever. Let’s just focus on the mission.”_

_“Yes, ma’am!”_

The Lombax shook her head again. Orvus was clearly messing with her.

“This place has a few nasty surprises that were left behind from the Great War,” Peli said. “We’ve gotten rid of most of them over the centuries, but now and then comes along something we missed- to the point where we think that there may actually be a Cauldron still active here somewhere underground.”

“A ‘Cauldron?’” Sachari asked blankly. “What’s that?”

“You don’t know what a Cauldron is??” Peli looked at her in surprise. “Well, that’s far from the strangest thing I’ve heard this week.” She focused her gaze back on the trail. “A Cauldron is what we call them old automated factories the Lombaxes built during the Great War. They’d constantly churn out powerful machines and weapons for the Lombaxes to use against the Cragmites. Most of the Cauldrons on this planet aren’t active any more, and we scrapped ‘em for parts. But with how many Sandbots are still hanging around the area, we think there might be one that’s still running.”

“Aaaaand what’s a ‘Sandbot?’”

“A robot that looks and acts like a Sandshark,” Peli explained, “and also shoots fire out of its mouth. They’re mostly just pests, but in packs they can be a real problem.” As she spoke, they reached what was apparently a rusty door built into the mountain’s rock face. Peli pressed a button on the side next to the door, and with loud screeching of moving gears, the aforementioned door started to lower- eventually settling down on the ground in ramp-like position. “Welcome to the Hollow!” Peli headed up the ramp, moving faster now that she was more excited. Sachari followed suit, and her eyes widened in astonishment as they reached the Hollow’s entrance. The small pathway opened up into a massive rocky chasm, with hundreds of brightly lit buildings lining the mountain’s insides. In addition, every eight buildings or so, a long elevator shaft could be seen leading to each and every level of the city.

“Whoa…” Sachari stopped walking as she stepped onto the wide platform in front of her, just to take in the view. “This… this is amazing…” Scrap chirped in agreement.

 _“Indeed it is,”_ Orvus added. _“The Vullards really are quite resourceful- I haven’t been to one of their cities in… a_ very _long time…”_ His voice descended into a sort of… regret?

 _“Hey… you okay?”_ Sachari asked as she resumed following Peli across the platform towards one of the elevators.

 _“I am quite alright,”_ Orvus reassured her. _“It’s just… I did not realise how much I missed travelling until you came along.”_

 _“Oh…”_ Sachari wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She’d never really been into travelling. She didn’t necessarily hate it, but she didn’t like it either.

Once they reached the elevator, Peli groaned in exasperation. “Oh no, not _again!”_

“What’s wrong?” Sachari asked, turning her attention to the Vullard once more. “Did something happen??”

“Yeah, kinda… stupid battery bot escaped again!” Peli groaned again. “I keep telling the Council we should move over to gelatonium like the rest of the galaxy, but do they listen?? Noooo!”

Of course, another roadblock. Sachari decided she really shouldn’t be surprised. “Well, maybe I can-”

 _“Attention, attention!”_ a voice called through the many speakers hooked up to the buildings around the city. _“We have another Code 11-13! I repeat, we have a Code 11-13! The battery bots in Sectors 7G to Sector 38H are revolting! I repeat, the battery bots in Sectors 7G to Sector 38H are revolting!”_

“Oh _nooo,”_ Peli muttered. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but I think Alister’s gonna have to wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, constructive criticism is appreciated. Flames, however, are NOT.
> 
> Also, another voice claim!
> 
>  **~ Voice Claim ~**  
>  Peli Kuiil \- Lauren Ash


	11. X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not 100 percent happy with this chapter, buuuut I'll take it. I had to rewrite a good chunk of it this morning, so hopefully it paid off. Constructive criticism is always appreciated- FLAMES are NOT.

_Todano… outside the main Testing Facility…_

“How’s it going over there?” Talwyn asked as she stopped working on cleaning out the gunk in her N60 Storm for the moment and looked over at Cronk. The warbot was laying front first on the ground, studying the factory through the scope of his Deadeye Mine- which was currently propped on top of the boulder in front of him.

“So far, lots and lots of sentry bots,” Cronk answered, not moving. “I’m also seein’ an awful lotta Thugs near the entrance too… and _Chickenbots._ I _hate_ Chickenbots.”

Talwyn rolled her eyes at the Chickenbots bit. “Alright, well- lemme know when you’re finished here and then we can move to another vantage point.”

* * *

_Still on Todano…_

Getting out of the factory was a lot harder than breaking in, Ratchet realised as- with the help of Clank’s Thruster Pack- he boosted into the air and shoved a ticking bomb right down the mouth of the nearest sentry boot. The Thruster Pack then propelled both Lombax and robot a couple of feet or so away just as the bomb exploded, leaving the sentry nothing but a pile of smoldering, sparking scrap metal. The feline quickly turned his attention to Skidd, who had just zapped the head off of another sentry with his Alpha Disruptor, and was now taking aim at another one of the bots. Ratchet then whipped his head to the side and saw the swarm of sentry bots coming around the corner at the end of the corridor.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Ratchet muttered. The feline tele-equipped his Omni-Wrench and quickly charged up a blast before swinging the multi-purpose weapon down, launching a large ball of ice at the sentry bots. The ball exploded upon impact with the closest bot, showering both it and the sentries around it in shards of ice. The shards impaled the metal sheets of armour, tearing through the many layers and shredding up the bots’ insides. The Lombax didn’t waste any time, and swung his wrench again, sending another frozen sphere in the sentries’ direction. That did the bots in, effectively leaving them all in a half-frozen, half-shredded heap.

“Whoa, those were some pretty cool moves, dude!” Skidd commented as he reloaded his Alpha Disruptor. “Dang- I only got three more rounds left before I’m all out for this baby.”

Ratchet’s HUD flickered to life, detecting the presence of a rift outside the factory. “My audio receptors indicate that more sentries are on the way,” Clank announced.

“Skidd, grab my wrist,” Ratchet told him.

“What?” Skidd stared at him blankly as he slipped the last round into his Alpha Disruptor.

“Just do it, okay? Trust me!”

Skidd finally grabbed his wrist, and so with his free hand Ratchet tele-equipped his Rift Tether. The Lombax lifted his hand, and a thin red string of light burst from the gadget, latching onto the rift outside. And then the familiar sensation of phasing out of reality tingled Ratchet’s nerves as they passed through the walls and back into the outside world. As the feline disengaged the Tether, Skidd let go of his wrist.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Skidd said, right before throwing up.

Ratchet winced as he watched, and then- once the Rilgarian was finished relieving his stomach of its contents- he said, “C’mon, let’s get outta here before those sentry bots realise we’re not in the facility anymore.”

_Twelve years ago… Kyzil Plateau Grim’s garage…_

_“Ratchet?! Ratchet!! What in the name of-_ what _are you doing with that engine?!”_

_The Lombax in question looked up from where he was sitting on the floor, tools in hand and the dismantled engine in pieces before him. His green eyes were trembling with fear, as was the rest of his body- which was covered in dirt and grime from the damaged engine._

_“I- I- I’m sorry,” Ratchet whimpered softly, unable to meet Grim’s stern gaze. And then the Lombax started crying uncontrollably. “I’m sorry- p-please don’t send me_ back _there!_ Please!”

 _“Send you- what?” Grim knelt down beside the distraught feline, now deciding not to concern himself with the engine for the moment. “Send you back_ where? _To the_ orphanage??”

_“Uh huh…” Ratchet’s voice was even quieter now as he spoke between choked sobs. “That’s… that’s what the other parents would do… when I mess up…”_

_Grim sighed, and scooped the Lombax up into his arms. He would figure out a suitable punishment later- right now, he had other priorities. “You are definitely_ not _going back there.”_

_“I’m not?” Ratchet looked up, blinking at his caretaker in confusion. His eyes were red and his chest jerked intermittently from crying._

_“That’s right. Ratchet, I don’t know very much about you, or what you went through when you were at the orphanage,” Grim explained as he carried Ratchet up the staircase that led from the main part of the garage to a hallway. “But I do know that it’s my job to care for you, because you_ are _my child now. If I just dropped you off back at the orphanage, then I’d be a very lousy father.” He stopped walking when he reached the bathroom door and set the feline down. “Now go clean yourself up. We’ll be having dinner soon, and I don’t want you getting grime in your food.”_

_“Sir, yes sir!” Ratchet whirled around and saluted Grim, a dorky smile now on the feline’s face. He felt a bit better now, knowing that his caretaker wouldn’t just send him back to the orphanage like all the other parents did. “Captain Ratchet will be reporting to Mission Control shortly, Commander Grim!”_

_Grim snorted in amusement. “Alright, little Ranger- stop_ stalling _. Into the bathroom with you.” He opened the door and pushed Ratchet inside, then shut it behind the Lombax._

 _“Operation: Bath Time is a go!” Ratchet’s voice called through the door. Then Grim heard the faucet running, and shook his head when he heard the feline shout to no one in particular, “I repeat- Operation: Bath Time is a_ go!”

_Kids._

Once Ratchet, Clank, and Skidd were a relatively safe distance from the facility, they halted their retreat. Ratchet took this moment to sit down on a nearby rock to rest and look around for a moment, to gauge their surroundings. So far, there was really nothing in the immediate vicinity that appeared to be a threat.

Clank dismounted off of Ratchet’s back, and Skidd collapsed face first on the ground. “My _body_ is _betraying_ me,” the Rilgarian groaned.

“Are you alright, Mister McMarx?” Clank asked, approaching the downed commando. “Do you require any Nanotech?”

“Nah.” Skidd turned his head to look at the robot. “I’m good, little dude. Just that… whatever it was you did back there to get us outta that factory… it kinda made me sick.”

“My HUD detected a rift outside the facility,” Ratchet explained. He re-equipped his Rift Tether and went on, “This is my Rift Tether- it’s a gadget Clank and I got a while back that can latch onto nearby rifts and use them to… well, move the user to where the rift is, basically.”

“Pretty radical, dude,” Skidd muttered.

Ratchet didn’t respond. Instead, he was focused on trying to get his nav-unit up and running- which was hard to do at the moment, since it had been damaged during one of the scuffles back in the facility. And it was damaged to the point of not even being functional. “Great. Just great.” He looked over at Clank. “Now might be a good time to test that upgrade Elaris gave you last month. Think you might be able to get us back to the landing site?”

“Give me a moment to activate my internal navigational unit,” Clank responded. It was a full minute before he said, “My navigational unit is online, and it appears to be functional. I believe I can guide us back to the landing site.”

“Great!” Ratchet gave the robot a thumbs up, earning a smile from him. “Let’s get moving, then.” The Lombax turned his attention to Skidd, who was slowly getting to his feet. “You need any help there, Skidd?”

Skidd shook his head. “Nah- I think the worst is over now.” And then he barfed again.

* * *

_The Hollow… Torren IV…_

_“NO!!_ Scrap, drop it! _Drop it_ right now!”

Sachari would never have thought in a million years that she’d see Scrap try to _eat_ a battery bot. Thankfully the little Tumfoid-like robot was unsuccessful so far, since the battery bot was too large for Scrap to fit completely in her mouth. That didn’t stop her from causing mischief, however, and running around the Vullard city with the battery bot clutched between her jaws, forcing Sachari to give chase.

At least this was the last battery bot on this level of the city that needed to be put back into its socket.

That didn’t make the whole situation any less frustrating, however. Scrap looked up at her, blinking with her large eyes uncomprehendingly as if to say, _But it tastes good!_ The little robot then chirped, sitting down on the floor.

“Drop it,” Sachari ordered firmly. She had Scrap cornered now, so hopefully the little robot would give in and let the battery bot go. “Drop. It.”

Scrap let out an annoyed chirp as if to say, _Fine!_ Then she dropped the battery bot. Sachari lunged and grabbed it before it could get away or fall into Scrap’s mouth again.

 _“Well, that was… an interesting show,”_ Orvus remarked in amusement.

Sachari rolled her eyes as she extended her hand out for Scrap to climb on. As the little robot scurried up the Lombax’s arm, Sachari replied, _“No kidding. One time she broke into the cafeteria and stole Elaris’ meatloaf.”_

Orvus snickered. _“Clearly this one’s a trouble maker.”_

 _“Yup. And Elaris went without lunch because of it.”_ Sachari made her way towards the elevator, where Peli was waiting.

“You got the last one?! Oh my gosh, perfect timing!” Peli exclaimed in astonishment as well as relief. “I got word from my buddy in Sector 4B- all the battery bots on the other levels are back in their sockets, so once we get this little guy in his, we’ll be back in business!”

“Glad to hear,” Sachari said, carefully plugging the battery bot back into its socket. She found the whole thing to be extremely cruel (to put it lightly), for the battery bots to be forced to live a life as nothing more than a source of power. Why give something the capacity for sentience if you’re only going to use it as a freaking _battery??_ She vowed silently to herself that as soon as she was able, she’d do something about this. “So does this mean we can get to Volgram Pass now?”

“Yup! Just let me get this door open…” Peli smashed her hand onto a button next to the elevator, and the door slid open with a loud _creak_. “Alrighty! All aboard the Express!” The Vullard entered the elevator first, and Sachari squeezed in after, surprised at how cramped this elevator was. She supposed that was why each level had more than one, but _still_.

The ride down to the lower levels was bumpy, the elevator rumbling loudly as its gears turned. In about ten minutes or so, they reached the bottom level, and the door slid open. Sachari stumbled out, trying to catch her breath- it was ridiculously _stuffy_ in that elevator, making it nearly impossible to breathe in there. The air outside wasn’t much better. It was stale and smelled of oxidising Raritanium deposits.

“You alright there?” Peli asked, her voice tinged with concern.

“Yeah, just needed to catch my breath,” Sachari answered, straightening her stance.

“Alright- Volgram Pass is on the other side of that tunnel up ahead,” Peli explained, pointing to the aforementioned tunnel. “But be careful when you get there- there’s a _lot_ of dangerous mining equipment, and one wrong move could get you killed.”

“Got it. Thanks for the help.”

“No problem! If you survive, please stop by again!”

The two waved goodbye to each other as Sachari headed towards the tunnel. Two strings of light bulbs running along the top of the tunnel illuminated the path ahead. Other than that, the pathway was relatively unremarkable, save for its large size.

About ten minutes or so later, and Sachari reached the end of the tunnel, which lead to a small cliff with a perfect view of what lay ahead. The cavern opened up into yet another massive chamber, perhaps even bigger than the one the Vullard city was in. As Sachari looked up, she could see an opening at the top. Sunlight filtered through the hole, lighting up the entire cavern in a soft golden glow. As Peli had said, there was clearly a lot of mining equipment here. Cranes, oversized drills, you name it. The equipment was scattered all throughout the area, some of it placed in a way that almost resembled an obstacle course. Off to the right, she could see a massive, weird-looking statue with an even weirder looking head. And inside the wide open mouth of that head stood her very objective.

Alister Azimuth.

“Alister?” Sachari called, drawing the albino Lombax’s attention to her. His eyes narrowed in suspicion at the sight of her. “Alister Azimuth? I need to talk to you!”

Alister glared down her a second longer before pulling something round off his belt. He pressed something on it, causing the side to expand slightly. And then he threw it directly at her.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” Sachari muttered. She tele-equipped her Versa Mallet and smashed the ball into a nearby rock wall, at the same time running and leaping off the edge towards the nearest support rail. Scrap dug her little claws into the feline’s shoulder, chirping in terror. Just as Sachari’s hand latched into the support rail, she heard a loud _boom_ , and felt the searing heat of fire from the explosion. She kicked on her boot’s thrusters, swinging herself up into the air, allowing her to land on top of the support rail. Her thrusters propelled her across the rail as she watched Alister leap down from the statue and onto the rail parallel to hers.

 _“Who_ do you work for?!!” Alister snarled, tele-equipping his Twin-Ended Omni-Wrench and charging it up. Electricity crackled threateningly from the weapon, a signal as to what was to come. “Vorselon?! _Nefarious?!_ They’re pathetic to send some _assassin_ to do the work for them!! The absolute _gall!_ They should’ve come and try to kill me _themselves!!”_

“No, I don’t work for them, I’m-!!” Sachari started to protest, but didn’t get to finish.

“LIAR!!” Alister swung his wrench, launching a ball of electricity at her. “And I know a hologuise when I _see_ one!!”

Sachari jumped, sailing over the electrical charge, and then landed back onto the rail. “Please, just listen!! My name is _Sachari Cross!_ I’m a member of the Solana’s Galactic Rangers! I was born on _Grelbin_ , same as you!” Alister didn’t respond, instead throwing another grenade. It latched onto the rail several metres ahead of Sachari. “Oh no-!” The Lombax felt Orvus expanding another bubble, slowing down the grenade’s countdown.

_“What are you waiting for?! Jump!”_

Sachari jumped off the rail. The bubble dissipated, and the grenade exploded. The momentum of her boot’s thrusters, as well as the shockwave of the explosion, sent her flying across the cavern and onto a giant metal platform. Scrap chirped a warning to Sachari as the Lombax quickly scrambled to her feet. Alister had landed on the same platform across from them.

And he was clearly both bewildered and angry.

 _“What_ are you??” He demanded, his Omni-Wrench humming loudly as it started to charge up again.

“Not your enemy,” Sachari retorted dryly. “Look, I- I didn’t come here to _kill_ you, okay?! I came because I want to know _why_ Vorselon was even after you in the first place!! I happened to be in this galaxy at the wrong place at the wrong time, and because he probably thought _I’d_ know where you were, an innocent Fongoid village was burnt to the ground, and my friend and the survivours are stuck cleaning up _his_ mess!!

“And… I wanna know what happened. I wanna know why you and Kaden vanished all those years ago, and never came back. We thought you guys were dead. _Why_ didn’t you come back?? And how did Ratchet end up on _Veldin_ of all places??”

“‘Ratchet??’” Alister’s ears perked up. “That’s… that’s Kaden’s child-the child- is- is Ratchet-”

“Ratchet’s fine, if that’s what you’re trying to ask,” Sachari told him. “Last I heard, he was on his way back to Solana after finishing up a mission in the Bogon Galaxy. He’s a Ranger now, like me.” She pointed proudly to the dark blue symbol on her armour’s chest-plate.

“I…”

Alister straightened his stance and motioned for her to follow him. “C’mon- follow me. We… we clearly have a _lot_ to discuss.” And with that, he boosted off the platform, hoverboots roaring as they propelled him through the air, and then landed back in the giant statue’s mouth.

Sachari took a step back and got a running start. She sprinted across the platform and leapt, her boot’s thrusters humming to life. The feline then landed on the inside of the statue’s mouth.

“I’ve never seen someone install hoverboot technology directly into their own armour,” Alister remarked.

“They’re called ‘boot thrusters,’” Sachari corrected.

“What’s the difference?” Alister didn’t wait for a response. “So… what do you want to know first?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to whoever spotted the She-Ra reference I snuck in.


	12. XI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not my best work, but better than nothing I guess...

“So… what do you want to know first?”

“First off, why was Vorselon even after you??” Sachari asked as she sat down on a nearby bolt crate. “What did you do?”

“For the past year, I’ve suspected that Nefarious and his minions are up to something far _more_ than just galactic domination,” Alister answered as he turned away and bent over, reaching out and undoing the clasps off the wooden chest in front of him. He opened it, and then pulled out a rolled-up sheet of navy blue paper. He turned back around to face Sachari, and unrolled the paper so she could see what was on it.

 _“That… that is the Great Clock,”_ Orvus told Sachari, a startled note in his voice. _“But- but when I was being held captive by Doctor Nefarious, not even_ once _did he ask me about it… I do not understand. He only held me captive to syphon enough power from me to use for his Deplanetiser…”_

 _“One thing’s for sure, this definitely can’t be a coincidence,”_ Sachari said. _“We’ll get to the bottom of this. I know it.”_

“This,” Alister spoke, unknowingly interrupting Sachari’s and Orvus’ conversation, “is the Great Clock. An ancient power constructed by the Zoni to control the flow of time after an ancient space-time catastrophe described in the old Zoni texts as ‘The Great Tear.’ I found these documents when I broke into Nefarious’ Tomboli Outpost on planet Zanifar earlier this year. It appears that Nefarious intended on constructing some kind of _key_ in order to bypass the safeguards that were in place.”

“Uhh, Alister??” Sachari raised her hand to get his attention, a confused expression on her face. “I- well… we all assumed Nefarious’ body had been vaporised when the Deplanetiser was blown up.”

“Well, either he has a twin brother who just happened to get himself turned into a robot,” Alister replied, “or he survived. Either way, he has to be stopped. If he manages to gain full control of the Great Clock, he could rewrite the very fabric of the universe as we know it. I can’t let that happen.”

 _“Hmm… I have the distinct feeling that there is something_ else _driving Azimuth,”_ Orvus declared. _“I do not like it one bit. But if we are to gather more information, perhaps we should make an alliance with him for the time being.”_

 _“Yeah, I agree- and don’t worry, I won’t mention you to him,”_ Sachari replied. _“I’m sure I can come up with a plausible excuse for what happened on that support rail… eventually.”_

“So,” Sachari spoke aloud to Alister, “what should we do about it?”

“I need to track Nefarious down and destroy him and his armies before they can get to the Clock,” Alister told her. “Are you offering to lend a hand?”

“Maybe,” Sachari answered, smirking. She slid off the crate and landed on her feet. “That means yeah- I wanna help you out. Nefarious needs to learn that being an evil mastermind comes with consequences.”

“So does being the good guy,” Alister added. “Everything comes at a price.” He paused for a second and then continued, “Now that I have you and your little robot-friend-” The older Lombax gestured to Scrap, who chirped at him approvingly, for reference. “- on my side, we just might have a shot at this.” He lifted his wrist and pressed a few buttons on his glove. “I’m uploading the coordinates to Axiom City of Terachnos to your nav-unit now. Meet me there, and we’ll discuss the plan.”

“What’s in Axiom City??” Sachari asked as Alister walked over to the edge of the statue’s mouth, still tapping on his glove’s buttons.

“A way to locate Nefarious’ base of operations,” Alister answered. “Or, at least, a way to find something that will help us do that.” A ship resembling Aphelion rose up from somewhere in the mine. The albino Lombax turned back around to face Sachari. “Sachari, meet Areosynch- Areosynch, meet Sachari.”

Areosynch looked Sachari up and down for a moment. “A pleasure, o’ scrawny one!” the Lombax ship greeted, her voice tinged with sarcasm.

“Hey, I am not _scrawny!”_

Alister pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. “My apologies, Sachari. She’s a little rough around the edges.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Areosynch pointed out dryly.

* * *

_Back on Todano… at the landing site…_

“How’s it going with those transmissions?” Ratchet queried as he, Clank, and Skidd approached the landing site. Elaris still sat in front of her computer, cycling through all the frequencies. She looked up at Ratchet and smiled upon seeing him and the others.

“I managed to intercept a transmission between a member of the Thugs-4-Less and a hoverbike rider,” Elaris answered. “Apparently Fizzwidget himself is going to be on planet Barlow to watch the hoverbike competition that’s taking place there. I think when we’re done with things here, we should look into it, especially depending on how much information on the Experiment those files contain.”

“Then I guess we’d better get planning, huh?” Talwyn and Cronk approached the rest of the group, looking a little worse for the wear. The cloth not protected by Talwyn’s armour plating was somewhat shredded, and both her armour and Cronk’s had some dents and scratches in them. “We got attacked by some killer squirrels on our way back,” the Markazian told them. “Nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Yeah, we had to deal with some on our way back too,” Ratchet replied. “We managed to get the security files we needed, though.”

“And we managed to scout the entire perimeter of the main Testin’ Facility,” Cronk said. “So we’ve got a good idea of what we’ll be dealin’ with on the outside.”

“Alright then,” Elaris spoke, standing up and cracking her knuckles. She winced as they popped rather loudly. “Let’s get planning!”

Time seemed to blur as they all passed along information with each other and occasionally threw ideas out there- which were quickly stomped out by the likes of Clank and Elaris due to either being too reckless or just outright impossible. Finally, after what seemed like hours to Ratchet (but in reality was only about an hour and a half), they managed to agree on a plan.

“There’s just way too many sentry bots for us to handle if we split up, at least, once we’re inside,” Elaris explained. “This Testing Facility has twice as many of those bots as that factory on Quartu, not to mentioned there are also Chickenbots and Thugs helping guard the facility. If we’re gonna make this work, we have to clear out as much as we can. This is really the only part of the plan that works if we split up. We’ll have to sweep around the outside of the factory, destroying anything that _isn’t_ an ally. Once the perimeter is clear, we all meet up back outside the main entrance and move in. We clear out _all_ the guards inside, and then- and _only_ then- do we try to access the main computer.”

“We will need to stock up on ammunition ahead of time,” Clank added. “Due to the extremely high number of enemies we will encounter _both_ outside _and_ inside the factory, we will run out quickly if we are not well prepared.”

“Yeah, and if that happens while we’re in the middle of a shoot-out…” Ratchet slid his finger along his throat. “Game over.” He tele-equipped his Gadgetron PDA and started typing on the small keyboard. He then turned around and pointed the device’s antenna at a spot on the ground several feet away. A crackling stream of light zapped out from the small red orb on the tip of said antenna and hit the ground. Several large stacks of ammunition crates appeared in the crater the stream of light left behind. “Well… that kinda left a mark,” Ratchet commented, his eyebrow twitching upwards. “Alright. Let’s start reloading our weapons.”

* * *

_Axiom City, Planet Terachnos…_

Sachari stood out on the city’s landing platform, Aphelion safe and sound a ways behind her… the only problem? The Terachnoid dockmaster in charge of this landing dock was charging a very unreasonable price for keeping her ship there. And he was becoming increasingly frustrating to try to negotiate with.

“Thirty thousand bolts,” the Terachnoid growled, “and not a _single_ bolt less!”

Scrap, who was peering at the large-headed dockmaster from around the side of Sachari’s head, hissed softly at him. Sachari growled and pressed a series of buttons on her arm’s bracer. “Fine. Thirty thousand bolts it is. But just so you know, as soon as I’m done with things here, I’m gonna give your lousy company a real bad review.”

“Whatever- have fun with that!” the Terachnoid snarked, checking the data pad nestled in his hands. “Looks like the transfer’s complete. You’re free to go.”

“Finally,” Sachari muttered, pushing past the dockmaster.

Apparently having an extra brain or two did nothing to quench the greed of this particular Terachnoid.

 _“What an unsavoury fellow,”_ Orvus commented, the disgust evident in his voice. _“It truly is a shame that some people are just so selfish, having absolutely no regard for others- the only thing on their minds being_ themselves.”

Sachari agreed.

At least not all Terachnoids were like him, as she had met several other members of the species previously who were actually quite friendly. A bit arrogant, for sure. But friendly.

The Lombax made her way across the bridge leading from her landing dock to the main entrance of the city. Some of the citizens who were roaming about gave her odd looks (unsurprising, as they probably had never seen a Lombax in person until now), but otherwise they just ignored her. Up ahead, leaning against a pillar supporting a smaller platform above, was Alister Azimuth himself.

Sachari approached him, a small smirk of amusement on her face. “So, did you have any trouble with your dock’s dockmaster?” Scrap chirruped happily at the ivory Lombax in greeting.

“Actually, no,” Alister answered, straightening his stance and stepping forward. He glanced at Scrap, giving her a small nod and smile, before looking back at Sachari. “Mainly due to the fact that I didn’t land on a dock in the first place. Don’t worry- I landed Areosynch in a safe location. She should be fine.”

Sachari nodded, placing her hands on her hips. “So where exactly are we headed?”

“Pollyx Industries,” Alister answered as he started walking down the wide metal street before him. Sachari walked alongside him, listening carefully to every word. “Inside is a central computer with which we can use to locate an ancient Zoni artifact known as the Obsidian Eye. If we can find one, we should be able to use it to find Nefarious. Let’s just hope that there’s a Fulcrum Star to go with it…”

Sachari nodded, turning her head and trailing her eyes across the buildings and street as she took in the sights. Despite being the capital of planet Terachnos, Axiom City was not nearly as crowded as Stratus City. The streets were actually comfortably clear, the only other people there aside from Sachari, Scrap, and Alister being a few Terachnoids, several Snivelians, and one or two Vullards.

It wasn’t very long before they reached Neurox Plaza- the plaza in which Pollyx Industries was located.

“Here’s the plan,” Alister spoke up, stopping by one the giant fountains on the platform. “I have a contact inside Pollyx Industries who may be able to help us. His name’s Jarvis. I saved him a few years back when he used to be the original announcer for the Battleplex before he got too deep in debt and was almost executed by the Agorians. Anyway, do you see those two switches over there?” He pointed to a pair of shiny, dark grey buttons in the floor several feet to Sachari’s right.

“Yeah? They look like the kind we use back at the Galactic Ranger base to ionise the defensive grid’s power systems,” Sachari explained. “I’m guessing that these switches were installed for a similar reason?”

Alister nodded, looking down at the bracer around his wrist as he pressed a few buttons on it. “Yes- they serve to ionise the power conduits for the holographic hover-car ramp that leads to Pollyx Industries’ garage. That’s our ticket inside.” He pressed one more button with an air of finality, and the small circular projector on his bracer’s wrist displayed the image of a startled Terachnoid.

“Alister?! Wha- what’re you doing on _this_ frequency!? Do you know what’ll happen to me if _Nefarious_ finds out about this!?”

“Jarvis, I promise Nefarious won’t find out,” Alister reassured him. “And if he does, I’ll do whatever I can to get you to safety. But right now, I need to cash in that favour. We need to ionise the power conduits for the hover-car ramp so we can get into Pollyx Industries. All I need is for you to power up the activation switches and give us the correct sequence in which to activate them. Nothing else.”

“Fine, fine,” Jarvis muttered, the displeasure clearly evident in his voice. He pressed a few buttons on the holographic keyboard in front of him. “- I’m activating the switches now. Nav synching…” Just as the switches hummed to life, a siren atop one of the poles standing off to the side of the platform blared loudly.

 _“Alert, alert… Lombax rebel General Azimuth, Alister, has been spotted in Axiom City,”_ the speaker located just below the alarm itself crackled. _“Dispatching Nefarious troopers. Troopers are ordered to seek and destroy.”_

 _Great,_ Sachari thought to herself. _Just great…_


End file.
